Did the Church edit out an actor from the temple film because he went astray

Undetermined

At the beginning of August 2013, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who worshipped at an LDS temple began seeing something that they hadn’t seen in over 20 years, a new version of the endowment temple film. But, according to many members, that doesn’t mean that during those 20 plus years changes in the older films didn’t occur.

In 2010, many temple-attending members began to notice something different about the actor playing the part of the apostle John in one of the versions of the temple film. He looked different and the lighting on him seemed to be slightly brighter than on the other actors. It soon became apparent to members that the former John had been professionally edited out of the film and replaced with a new actor. The rumor also soon began to circulate that the reason for this change was because the former actor was gay and/or had spoken out against the Church’s stance on Proposition 8.

A petition was sent on November 4, 2009 to the First Presidency, asking them to change their position on same-gender attraction. Among the many signatures was Fred Hunting. The actor that played John and who was reportedly removed from the film was also named Fred Hunting, although it has not been verified that the Fred Hunting on the petition was for certain the same man who acted in the film.

It is also not certain as to the reason why the possible editing changes even occurred. Was it because the Church was either unhappy or embarrassed that an actor in the temple film had come out against the Church? Or did Fred Hunting ask to be removed from the temple film? Or perhaps the change had a different reason all together.

Not long after the change, members also began to notice that of the two temple films that most temples showed, the one containing the edited John began being shown less and less often. The LDS Church has never publicly spoken about the change and with the creation of a brand-new version of the temple film this is one mystery that (like the feathery hair styles of the older film versions) will be lost to time.