On August 6, 2024, Netflix Japan dropped the unreleased footage of its reality dating show, The Boyfriend. The 2 minutes 21-second clip shows the five show contestants (Dai, Shun, Alan, Kazuto, and Ikuo) talking about how people have mistreated them and had prejudices against them for their s*xual orientation.
Each of the five members shared their personal experiences of how others reacted towards them being from the LGTBTQ+ community. Alan recalled how a random old man had humiliated him on the train and called him derogatory terms as other passengers stared at Alan.
Kazuto revealed how a few of his clients often gave "disturbing" reactions whenever they learned about Kazuto's gender.
Viewers of the popular reality dating show were stunned to realize that the unreleased clip was edited out of the show. They expressed their views and called out Netflix for removing an important conversation from The Boyfriend where the participants shared their stories about facing discrimination and prejudices.
"This really should be included in the episodes."
To raise awareness on such a delicate matter, viewers pointed out that Netflix should have aired the unreleased footage in the original episodes of The Boyfriend.
"It is stupid to remove conversations like this from the show. Yes, it is a dating show, but it is also important to showcase conversations that will give context on how gay people are viewed in Japan and why others have to hide themselves, finding it hard to find a partner," one netizen wrote.
"So confused as to why these scenes don’t make the main show.. such short episodes for no reason.. this is all important scenes that deserve to be in the show," another netizen said.
"As a member of the lgbt community, it saddens me that they’ve decided not to add this scene to the show. It’s such an important conversation that shows the reality of the world," one other viewer added.
Others criticized Netflix Japan's lack of effort in adding English subtitles to the unreleased footage from The Boyfriend, which hindered international audiences from comprehending the content.
"Netflix, I don't want to sound entitled, but you know that 70% of the media consuming this content don't understand Japanese, you can at least put Spanish subtitle or English subtitle," one viewer commented.
"There are so many interesting and educational conversations that were not aired. It could’ve been important to raise awareness and educate people about the issues that LGBTQ+ community have been facing," another netizen wrote.
"Seriously, this should be included in the main contents, not as unreleased scene. Such an important conversation...my heart with all boys who experienced unfair treatment and discrimination," one other viewer said.
Netflix's Japanese dating show The Boyfriend unreleased footage shares the coming-out stories of the members
In another 10-minute and 23-second-long unreleased footage clip from The Boyfriend, Dai revealed in the unreleased clip that he came out during his high school senior years.
Nevertheless, Dai was previously drawn to a woman, whom he still loves and respects, despite his s*xual orientation. However, because Dai was drawn to guys, they had to break up. Dai continued, saying he's still working through the intricacies of his preferences and sentiments.
"I first realized with absolute certainty that I was gay during my senior year of high school, around winter. [...] However, when I turned 21, I started developing romantic feelings for a woman again. At the time, I identified as gay and introduced myself as such, which made the situation challenging for both of us. Fortunately, our mutual friends noticed our connection and helped us get together," he said.
Meanwhile, The Boyfriend contestant Shun revealed his struggles with his attraction to both men and women since the sixth grade. He recalled the times stating that he felt lonely and conflicted and hated his own existence.
"It was a tough time for me. There wasn’t much I could do about it, and I fell into self-loathing. I felt like there was no one who understood what I was going through, which made it even more challenging."
The Boyfriend was aired between July 9 and 30, 2024, on Netflix. The show had nine male participants who lived in the same house to find their true love. In the show's last episode, The Boyfriend had two successful couples: Dai and Shun along with Alan and Kazuto. The rest five members left the green room as singles.