Amazon faces backlash for “gun-free” James Bond poster release

A series of ‘gun-free’ James bond poster series release by streaming platform giant Amazon Prime videos has dismayed several fans, who are calling it "woke" and unnecessary. The platform quietly took them down without comment after facing backlash.

Amazon faces backlash for ‘gun-free’ James Bond poster release

The posters were released on Sunday October 5, which was James Bond Day. Notably, all firearms seem to have been either removed or cropped out from several well-known James Bond images. The censorship did not sit well with fans, who could not help but speculate about the future of 007 in the hands of Amazon, which acquired Amazon MGM Studios unit that holds creative control and co-ownership of the James Bond intellectual property. 

Among them is widely circulated Spectre teaser poster, where Daniel Craig’s gun has seemingly been cropped out, though his shoulder holster remains visible. The famous portrait of Sean Connery with a Walther PPK crossed in his arms, a promotional still from Dr. No that now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, showcased a similar change.

The same treatment appears to have been applied to a Live and Let Die publicity photo of Roger Moore, originally shown holding a .44 Magnum, a rare deviation from the fictitious British Secret Service agent's preference for smaller handguns. But the move itself stunned fans, who could not take the steer absurdity and blandness of experiencing James Bond with no handgun at all!

Author and American retired special agent John A Douglas also penned his thoughts on the same on X: "They photoshopped all the guns out of the James Bond movie thumbnails. Just in case you still had hope for Amazon being in charge of the franchise."

"Notice in these Amazon #JamesBond digital posters they’ve removed all the guns and given awkward poses? Welcome to a world where promoting James Bond 007 needs to be done without his sidearm," said a fellow fan on X.

Amazon has not commented on the matter yet.

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