Sia deletes Twitter following film controversy over restraint scenes

Sia has deleted her Twitter account after posting a second apology for a controversial restraint scene in her new movie Music.

On Wednesday, the singer-turned-filmmaker apologised for scenes depicting the use of restraints on autistic people in her upcoming movie Music, revealing she planned to edit the offending footage out of the project.

She returned to Twitter on Thursday to discuss feedback to the film and her decision, before deleting her account altogether as the controversy raged.

She said: “I promise, have been listening. The motion picture MUSIC will, moving forward, have this warning at the head of the movie: MUSIC in no way condones or recommends the use of restraint on autistic people.”

Her statement read: “There are autistic occupational therapists that specialize in sensory processing who can be consulted to explain safe ways to provide proprioceptive, deep-pressure feedback to help w (with) meltdown safety… I listened to the wrong people and that is my responsibility, my research was clearly not thorough enough, not wide enough.”

Sia also retweeted a response from a fan dubbed The Autistic Educator, which read: “You’re forgiven by me at least. I still LOVE your music, but I can’t watch your movie as the restraint scenes will trigger me. I KNOW you’re a good person, you have realized you need to be more aware and that’s a REALLY good start. You can really help us now. You listened!”

The Chandelier singer has also been criticised for casting young dancer Maddie Ziegler, who appears in all of Sia’s videos, as a non-verbal autistic girl in the film.