As described here, the producers of the movie “Barbershop” have apologized to f***ing Jesse Jackson for “offensive” remarks made by a character in the movie. Jackson now wants the DVD and video versions of the film edited to have the offending lines cut.
I don’t know who I have less respect for, Jackson for demanding an apology, or the producers for giving it.
What’s next? Should no character in a movie ever make an offensive remark? Should the producers of American History X apologize for the racist remarks in that movie?
For that matter, when does a movie become “offensive” and when, if ever, should a movie’s makers apologize for its content?
He accused the filmmakers of “trying to turn tragedy into comedy.”
Well, my goodness! Any filmmaker who does that should just appologize right now! How dare those unscrupulous filmmakers put humour into dark situations!
I guess censorship is OK if it ruffles the wrong feathers. I think black filmmakers have it hard enough in the industry without having to worry about having an “ally” stab them in the back when they actually generate a modest success.
Disney did a similar thing on their animated feature Aladdin. The opening song had a line that went “Where they cut off your hand if they don’t like your face/it’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.” Apparently some people complained about the stereotyping, and Disney agreed to edit the line.
The line was changed to “Where it’s flat and immense and the heat is intense/it’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.” This appeared in the video and DVD version; I’m not sure whether they changed the theatrical release as well.
The last movie Carole Lombard appeared in (I don’t remember the movie and I’m too lazy to go check out IMDB ) had her character saying, “What could happen in a plane?” The line was removed after she died in a plane crash. But it wasn’t removed because of any outcry against it, the studio just thought it was in bad taste after her death.
I wonder how many other movies have been edited to appease one group or another?
This reminded me of a number of Warner Bros. cartoons that were edited due to celebrity deaths or requests.
Carole reminded me of Bugs Bunny’s first cartoon, A Wild Hare, in which Bugs covers Elmer’s eyes and plays “Guess Who?” Elmer guessed celebrities, including Cawole Wombard. It was changed after her death (Warners was still re-releasing old cartoons as “Blue Ribbons” to theatres at this time), I believe to Barbawa Stanwyck.
In one of a number of people-on-the-covers-of-books-come-to-life cartoons Warners did (I forget which one), one of the books is The Town Crier, who was made to look like Alexander Woolcott. Woolcott took offense for one reason or another, and the scene was removed in the Blue Ribbon rerelease.
And the Barbershop thing is just nuts. If you can’t make fun of King, Parks, and Jackson, what famous revolutionary or important blacks can you make fun of? Nig(g)er Innis? Step’n Fetchit?
The scene in Wonder Boys in which Tobey Maguire’s character rattles off a list of Hollywood suicides was changed. However, this makes a little more sense in that he lists Alan Ladd as a suicide when his death was from natural causes.
Now that I think about it, there’s a scene in an episode of The Simpsons where Homer somehow has Dr. Hang S. Ngor’s Academy Award (for The Killing Fields) and flushes it down the toilet. Shortly after that episode aired, he died after being shot in a mugging and subsequent airings of the episode changed the name to Don Ameche. This makes even less sense as Don Ameche was also deceased.
Actually, in Aladdin, it was “cut off your ear”, I’m pretty sure. Either my Aladdin [cassette] tape or my movie (I have two copies for some reason) copy has the line…
Are you sure? I don’t know if it’s historically accurate, but I’d always heard that the traditional punishment for stealing was loss of the hand that you stole with.
As for the OP, Jackson is an ass. I don’t hold anything against the producers for apologizing. I figure they just did it so Jackson would shut up and go away. If they end up changing the movie, though, that’s unconsionable.
In the IMDB. news page, Jesse Jackson, in reference to the Barbershop debacle had this to say:
So we can’t dis Jesse, but Jew-baiting is OK? Stupid antiSemtic waste-of-space. You’d think the Hymietown incident back in 1984 would have taught him something.
) had her character saying, “What could happen in a plane?” The line was removed after she died in a plane crash. But it wasn’t removed because of any outcry against it, the studio just thought it was in bad taste after her death.