# TV shows/Movies that have had things edited for Political Correctness reasons? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 24, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025 "2006-04-24T19:05:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/21 "2006-04-24T21:31:06Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > WKRP was produced in the 1970s, before the advent of VHS and DVD. Nowadays, I’m sure producers take into consideration potential home video royalties when using copyrighted songs. _The Simpsons_ uses a lot of copyrighted songs, and has had success on DVD. But then again, so does _Malcolm in the Midddle_, which has had only one season out on DVD thus far due to the royalty costs for copyrighted songs. (Coincidentailly, all four shows are or would be released on DVD by Fox- as the producer of _The Simpsons, Malcolm,_ and _My Name is Earl_, and as the rights-holder for _WKRP_ and all other shows originally produced by MTM Productions.) I don’t remember lots of music in ‘Malcolm’. Do I just have a crappy music-memory? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/22 "2006-04-24T21:35:11Z")
> [@robdavsuss](#): > > How about non-dialogue edits. > > Just about anything that was shown for six plus months after 9/11, the World Trade Center was removed. As was any images or references to plane crashes or explosions. That annoyed the crap out of me. Everyone knows about the Twin Towers, so what’s the point of removing them from video they were already in? Gangs of New York won some big points with me by keeping them in the last shot. ---
**Author:** ![Mapache](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@Mapache](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mapache)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/23 "2006-04-24T21:38:48Z")
Disney advertises “Peter Pan” as being completely restored, but I’m sure I remember the song about Never Smile at a a Crocodile having words when I saw the movie as a kid. The DVD plays a short snatch of the melody, but the song is gone. Anybody know why? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/24 "2006-04-24T21:45:06Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > I doubt there will ever again be a big-screen release of “Gone With the Wind” for the same reasons. I saw it on a big screen in 1998. IMDb gives June of '98 as the date of its last US rerelease. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/25 "2006-04-24T21:47:37Z")
I question whether any editing on the basis of cultural sensitivity can be by default considered “political correctness.” That said, one example I recall was the movie _Ready to Rumble_. A scene featured auditions for sidekicks for the central wrestler character. One of the auditioners was dressed like a cowboy and sang “Oklahoma” and ended up tied outside to a tree. The scene with him tied to the tree was cut from home video release after concerns that it made light of Matthew Shepard-like anti-gay violence. Two episodes of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_, “Earshot” and “Graduation Day,” were delayed following COlumbine and other school violence outbreaks. But again, I don’t think that was an example of PC as much as it was an attempt to avoid controversy by the networks. Both episodes aired several weeks later and AFAIK were not edited for content. > [@robdavsuss](#): > > How about non-dialogue edits. > > Just about anything that was shown for six plus months after 9/11, the World Trade Center was removed. As was any images or references to plane crashes or explosions. I would be interested in knowing if you can provide any specific examples of a released television show or movie in which the towers were edited out for reasons of “political correctness.” OOTOMH the only one I can come up with is _Spider-Man_, for which a trailer featuring a helicopter trapped in a web between the two towers was pulled, along with some digital editing of a few shots within the film, but I dispute that the thinking behind it was “political correctness” as much as it was “not wanting to rub salt in an extremely raw wound.” > [@Rodgers01](#): > > And of course they won’t even release “Song of the South” now because of its portrayal of blacks. It’s been released in European and Asian markets. > [@Rodgers01](#): > > I doubt there will ever again be a big-screen release of “Gone With the Wind” for the same reasons. GWTW is readily available on home video and airs on TV semi-regularly. AFAIK the home video releases are not edited for content. Very few movies are re-released theatrically on any sort of wide scale (the last one I remember was The Wizard of Oz, following a digital restoration) so even if GWTW is never so re-released it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with PC. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/26 "2006-04-24T21:51:08Z")
_Otto_’s anecdote reminded me of one edit that really wasn’t for PC, but for a false statement. The film _Wonder Boys_ (IIRC) had a scene in which a character rattled off a list of actors who committed suicide. When the film was released on home video, Alan Ladd’s name was removed from this list, after his family pointed out that he did not commit suicide. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/27 "2006-04-24T22:18:40Z")
The movie “The Sentinel” from 1977[Not the TV series and not the current one with Michael Douglas] featured a house owned by the Catholic Church that was was supposedly the entrance to the Gates to Hell had a character called Sister _So-n-so_. So as not to offend the Catholic Church, for TV , they overdubbed “Sister” with “Sentinel” and made the Holy Hit Squad Priests, renegade defrocked priests. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/28 "2006-04-25T00:08:42Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > Everyone knows about the Twin Towers, so what’s the point of removing them from video they were already in? Gangs of New York won some big points with me by keeping them in the last shot. I think it may have to do with something that happened just after 9-11. One of the cable networks aired _Godspell_, which had been scheduled long before, and one of the tap dance scenes was either filmed on top of or otherwise prominently showed the twin towers, which got a lot of angry mail. The station (one of the Turner owned ones) apologized and endeavored to make sure to be more careful. Apparently a lot of other networks did likewise. It is indeed a bit silly. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/29 "2006-04-25T00:15:35Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > _Otto_’s anecdote reminded me of one edit that really wasn’t for PC, but for a false statement. The film _Wonder Boys_ (IIRC) had a scene in which a character rattled off a list of actors who committed suicide. When the film was released on home video, Alan Ladd’s name was removed from this list, after his family pointed out that he did not commit suicide. That’s a worthy editing. I saw the M_A_S_H_ episode not too long ago that repeated the [Charles Drew died because a white hospital denied him treatment story](http://www33.brinkster.com/iiiii/inventions/drew.asp), which has also been repeated in textbooks and on [“educational” channels](http://www.skepticism.net/articles/2002/000017.html). Irks me everytime (largely because I actually believed it myself for several years due to hearing it from “reliable” sources). ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/30 "2006-04-25T00:19:04Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I saw it [Gone With the Wind] on a big screen in 1998. IMDb gives June of '98 as the date of its last US rerelease. Yeah, I knew it had been re-released a couple of times, and even vaguely remember the late '90s release. Still, I can’t help but wonder if we haven’t gotten even _more_ PC since then. Even though it’s still on TV and on DVD…I dunno, I just can’t imagine that theaters would feel comfortable showing it on the big screen again. May be wrong though. > [@](#): > > It’s [Song of the South] been released in European and Asian markets. Yeah, I don’t know why it’s considered okay for them but not for us. AFAIK, the last time it was seen in the US was when it was re-released in theaters in the mid-80s; I don’t think it has ever had a home video release in this country. ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/31 "2006-04-25T00:22:52Z")
> [@Mapache](#): > > Disney advertises “Peter Pan” as being completely restored, but I’m sure I remember the song about Never Smile at a a Crocodile having words when I saw the movie as a kid. The DVD plays a short snatch of the melody, but the song is gone. Anybody know why? I don’t remember it ever appearing in the movie (but I was born 13 years after it came it…), but the complete song, with lyrics, is on the soundtrack CD. They list it as unused material (along with a song meant for Mr. Smee). A few of Disney’s “completely restored” films aren’t, though: in addition to the “pickaninny” centaurs in _Fantasia_ mentioned above, Bacchus’s entrance is accompanied by zebra centaurs fanning him; we don’t see Pecos Bill rolling a cigarette and smoking it while riding the cyclone (a cut which is particularly jarring, as the music just jumps now) in _Melody Time_; and many of the shorts are cut for depictions of smoking, shooting, and racist caricatures. ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/32 "2006-04-25T00:25:12Z")
> [@Mapache](#): > > Disney advertises “Peter Pan” as being completely restored, but I’m sure I remember the song about Never Smile at a a Crocodile having words when I saw the movie as a kid. The DVD plays a short snatch of the melody, but the song is gone. Anybody know why? I don’t remember it ever appearing in the movie (but I was born 13 years after it came out…), but the complete song, with lyrics, is on the soundtrack CD. They list it as unused material (along with a song meant for Mr. Smee). A few of Disney’s “completely restored” films aren’t, though: in addition to the “pickaninny” centaurs in _Fantasia_ mentioned above, Bacchus’s entrance is accompanied by zebra centaurs fanning him; we don’t see Pecos Bill rolling a cigarette and smoking it while riding the cyclone (a cut which is particularly jarring, as the music just jumps now) in _Melody Time_; and many of the shorts are cut for depictions of smoking, shooting, and racist caricatures. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/33 "2006-04-25T00:33:16Z")
Wasn’t there some minor dustup in a _Will & Grace_ episode where a Latin group was offended by a line so NBC changed it? ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/34 "2006-04-25T00:54:08Z")
> [@Dooku](#): > > Wasn’t there some minor dustup in a _Will & Grace_ episode where a Latin group was offended by a line so NBC changed it? I think it was Karen’s referring to Rosario as a “tamale.” ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/35 "2006-04-25T03:51:05Z")
“Gone with the Wind” is regularly shown at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre (a classic old movie theater, but not the one where the film debuted). ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/36 "2006-04-25T04:27:37Z")
> [@Manatee](#): > > I think it was Karen’s referring to Rosario as a “tamale.” Correct, in a season 2 episode. Per a number of sources, [the original line](http://www.tv.com/will-&-grace/guess-whos-not-coming-to-dinner/episode/1954/summary.html) was restored three months later after NBC decided it overreacted, and the original line appears on the S2 DVD. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/37 "2006-04-25T04:53:13Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > “Gone with the Wind” is regularly shown at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre (a classic old movie theater, but not the one where the film debuted). The Fox is a gorgeous theater, and also a great place to see a concert. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/38 "2006-04-25T05:02:21Z")
Some trivia about GWTW: the original script used the word nigger (as did the book). Protest from the NAACP and from the black actors in the cast, however, led Selznick order it being changed before shooting began to the more polite and proper “darky”. It would have been interesting to have seen whether or not the enforcers of the [Hays Code](http://www.artsreformation.com/a001/hays-code.html) (who famously fined Selznick $10,000 for the use of the word “damn”) would have fined them for use of the word. The code forbade “profane or vulgar expression” but unlike _damn_ and _S.O.B._ and, other than in their religious context, _Jesus_, _Christ_, _God_, _Lord_ or _Hell_, it did not specifically speak to racial slurs. It did forbid miscegenation on screen, which is why in [Show Boat](http://imdb.com/title/tt0028249/) the character of Julie, a mulatto in love with a white man, was played by white actress/singer Helen Morgan. They could have the romance on screen, but only because 1) there wasn’t really a mixed race kiss and 2) it showed the tragic consequences of such an “illicit” relationship. Had GWTW used the word nigger I wonder if it would be shown at all anymore. _Birth of a Nation_ is still sold, but being in the public domain it’s too easy a profit to refuse. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/39 "2006-04-25T05:10:10Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The Fox is a gorgeous theater, and also a great place to see a concert. And came closerthanthis to being torn down to build a parking lot in the 1970s. Unbelievable. I saw Hal Holbrook there twice as Mark Twain in recent years and was delighted that _he_ did not tone down Twain’s material for PC reasons. I’ve always found it so ironic that _Huckleberry Finn_ is so frequently banned for racism when it’s one of the most powerful indictments of racial attitudes in American literature. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/40 "2006-04-25T06:07:20Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I think it may have to do with something that happened just after 9-11. One of the cable networks aired _Godspell_, which had been scheduled long before, and one of the tap dance scenes was either filmed on top of or otherwise prominently showed the twin towers, which got a lot of angry mail. The station (one of the Turner owned ones) apologized and endeavored to make sure to be more careful. Apparently a lot of other networks did likewise. It is indeed a bit silly. I sometimes wish these stations wouldn’t just grow a pair and response as such: "Dear sir or ma’am, Thank you for your complaint. We highly value your feedback on the twin towers. That being said, We are sorry that you were offended by seeing a building that doesn’t exist anymore. However, as you apparently cannot handle that, we have concluded that instead of editing the movie to suit you, things would be far easier if you would just admit what everyone knows. Namely, That you are an idiot who should refrain from spawning. Sincerely, \ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025.md?page=3)