The Hungarian State Opera on Thursday canceled over a dozen performances of the musical “Billy Elliot,” after a newspaper columnist accused the production of being “gay propaganda.”

The award-winning musical about an English coal miner’s son who discovers a taste for ballet opened at the opera company in 2016 to critical acclaim, and was even credited with inspiring fresh talent to train in the nation’s top ballet school.

But, before a revival of the show began its summer run in Budapest, an article on June 1 in the pro-government daily newspaper Magyar Idok accused the production of corrupting young people.

Zsofia N. Horvath said that the musical’s message of “Dare to be yourself” referred “of course” to being gay.