It is illegal to acknowledge the genocide in Turkey.
The latest Marvel show, Moon Knight, has come under fire, due to its acknowledgement of the Armenian genocide of 1915 to 1917. The throwaway line that appears in the show's first episode has inspired some to review bomb the show, bringing its average user rating down to 7.4/10 on IMDb.
The Armenian genocide is mentioned by name in one scene between Oscar Isaac's Steven Grant, and antagonist Arthur Harrow, played by Ethan Hawke. Many reviews in Turkish are negative because of this, with the acknowledgement that the genocide took place still being illegal in the country.
The scene in question is when Steven meets with Arthur, discussing the sins that humanity has committed over the years. Arthur cites the holocaust, Pol Pot's war crimes in Cambodia, and the Armenian genocide as examples of humanity's sins.
Stating that the genocide took place is commonly seen as a breach of Turkey's article 301, which makes it an offence to "publicly denigrate" the country of Turkey, its government, the judicial system, the military, and the police. This has been used to silence journalists who say that the deaths happened, and were caused by the Ottoman Empire.
Backlash to the line can be seen in Moon Knight's one-star user reviews on IMDb. One review, titled "I hate political correctness" reads: Your given information about Armenian Genocide is totally lie. Turkish Governmental Archives are open the international visitors. If you blame the us this reason, first of all you must be objective." Another says, "There is no Armenian genocide you liars[…]they should keep away politics from super [h]ero shows".
"You really think that is true? You are writing scenario with lies. Please stop making lie. Learn history".
Alternatively, the show has also been praised by others for including the line. With Disney's international market in mind, it has been known to censor aspects of its films and shows that may receive backlash in certain regions, especially LGBTQ+ characters. Many are pleased to see that the writers were allowed to keep this line, despite the expected controversy.