# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/81 "2006-04-26T20:03:36Z")
> [@Southpaw](#): > > \ > > Several musicals from the 1930’s and 1940’s had black-faced numbers removed for TV broadcast. _Holiday Inn_ is the only one I can think of off-hand. I saw Holiday Inn for the first time ever (if you can believe that) just a few months ago on TCM and it included the blackface number. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/82 "2006-04-26T20:09:12Z")
> [@Ellen Cherry](#): > > I saw Holiday Inn for the first time ever (if you can believe that) just a few months ago on TCM and it included the blackface number. TCM only runs uncut movies. If Holiday Inn turned up on a commercial station, it would likely be excised of the blackface number. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/83 "2006-04-26T20:31:50Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > I don’t remember lots of music in ‘Malcolm’. > > Do I just have a crappy music-memory? > > -Joe There’s quite a bit of music in Malcolm. Maybe not every ep, but here’s some from an old USENET thread: Not sure if they’re season 2, but off the top of my head I remember “We Are The Champions” by Queen (in the skating episode, and there was at least one more song in that ep), and “Fernando” by ABBA (in the one with Bea Arthur.) I’m sure there’s a lot more I’m forgetting. And there was also Malcom and Reese dancing to ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” last season in the episode where each thinks the other is gay. (One of the funniest episodes of the entire series, btw.) Durnit, what was the song that was playing when Malcolm started using his dad’s skate-dancing moves in the street hockey game? Some disco song, but can’t remember the tune. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/84 "2006-04-26T20:35:11Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] In an episode of _Sanford & Son_ I saw recently Esther responds to an old family friend who claims to have had an affair with her sister Elizabeth (one that led to the birth of Lamont) with “WHAT DID YOU SAY SUCKA!” and the audience goes wild. In the _original_ airing (and you can still read her lips) the line was “What did you say nigga?” Likewise, the episode in which Fred accuses the LAPD of racism by pointing to the people in the predominantly black courtroom and saying “There’s enough niggas in here to make a Tarzan movie!” has been pulled altogether from syndication in some markets or replaced with “There’s enough _brothers_ in here to make a Tarzan movie!” I’ve seen many if not most first-run Sanford and Son episodes, and I’m pretty sure I never heard the word “nigga” on non-premium TV until Chapelle’s Show. Can anyone back up the claim that the word “nigga” was used on network TV in the 70’s??!? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/85 "2006-04-26T20:38:46Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > 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”. I think Mitchell was sensitive to the use of the “n” word as well. (Sorry, can’t and won’t type it.) In the book, on the way back to Tara after escaping Atlanta, Scarlett tells Prissy she’s “a fool n----r” and says something like “Pa’s worst day of work was buying you.” She then says to herself, “Now I’ve said n—er and Mother won’t like that at all.” So while the word is used, I think it’s implied that it’s meants as an insult and the “better” term is “darky.” ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/86 "2006-04-26T20:44:18Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > I’ve seen many if not most first-run Sanford and Son episodes, and I’m pretty sure I never heard the word “nigga” on non-premium TV until Chapelle’s Show. Can anyone back up the claim that the word “nigga” was used on network TV in the 70’s??!? I’ll certainly attest that it was used on _Sanford and Son_, _Get Christe Love_, and _Archie Bunker’s Place_. Cite: My memory, which, while not all it used to be, still ain’t bad. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/87 "2006-04-26T20:47:32Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Can anyone back up the claim that the word “nigga” was used on network TV in the 70’s??!? Yup. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/88 "2006-04-26T20:48:37Z")
James Evans (John Amos) used it at least once on “Good Times.” ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/89 "2006-04-26T20:49:04Z")
> [@Earl Snake-Hips Tucker](#): > > Yup. Well damn. Stupid memory. _smack_ Of course I was like 7 but still you’d think I’d remember a shocking word like that on the TV at 8:00 (IIRC). ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/90 "2006-04-26T20:52:06Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > I’ve seen many if not most first-run Sanford and Son episodes, and I’m pretty sure I never heard the word “nigga” on non-premium TV until Chapelle’s Show. Can anyone back up the claim that the word “nigga” was used on network TV in the 70’s??!? I don’t remember its being common, but there was the famous Chevy Chase/Richard Pryor “job interview/word association” sketch from Saturday Night Live’s first season. Chase threw out some innocuous words, then moved into racial slurs, which Pryor responded to with slurs. The final excahnge was something like “Spear chucker!” “Honky!” “Spade!” “Honky honky!” “Nigger!” “_Dead_ honky!” After which Chase offers him the job with huge benefits because he’s scared shitless. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/91 "2006-04-26T21:46:16Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Recent showings of the 1950s movie **The Dam Busters** , … Hey! Watch your language! ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/92 "2006-04-26T22:42:56Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > . . . if Donald Duck is going to sexually harass Latin women, he should really be wearing pants. I just know this sentence is going to stick in my head for the rest of the day. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/93 "2006-04-26T22:45:07Z")
Sexual harassment is unwanted sexual advances. The women Donald flirts with all seem to enjoy the fowl flirting. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/94 "2006-04-27T01:35:17Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Durnit, what was the song that was playing when Malcolm started using his dad’s skate-dancing moves in the street hockey game? Some disco song, but can’t remember the tune. Yes, someone \*pleeeeze \*answer this! Every time I hear that song I think “That’s the song Malcolm learned to skate to!” But I have no idea what it’s called or who did it. Getting back to the earlier posts about Simpsons lines being cut or altered – there was an episode in one of the first couple of seasons where Bart cuts the head off of the Jebediah Springfield statue in the town square. At the end of the episode the first time it aired, Homer said something to Bart as they were walking home, I forget what it was (it was a looong time ago) but I distinctly remember the line not being there when I saw the episode re-run a couple of months later. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/95 "2006-04-27T02:31:28Z")
Malcolm rollerskates to “Funkytown” by Lipps Inc. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/96 "2006-04-27T02:32:08Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Yes, someone \*pleeeeze \*answer this! Every time I hear that song I think “That’s the song Malcolm learned to skate to!” But I have no idea what it’s called or who did it. I think I remember, wasn’t it “Funkytown” by Lipps, Inc? ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/97 "2006-04-27T02:41:38Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Yes, someone \*pleeeeze \*answer this! Every time I hear that song I think “That’s the song Malcolm learned to skate to!” But I have no idea what it’s called or who did it. … [Funkytown](http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=5717199&style=music&cart=334118941&BAB=M) maybe? Or I might be confusing songs. The disco era was a long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/98 "2006-04-27T02:42:58Z")
I am way too slow for this place. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/99 "2006-04-27T03:04:09Z")
> [@Southpaw](#): > > Jack Benny is still shown, pretty much uncut (except for the original commercials). I record it off a local channel every Sunday night. Really?? I’ve never seen it on TV where I live, and I’ve looked. IIRC I’d read on the Jack Benny boards that the show wasn’t on the air anymore. Anyways, great show, and I’m glad that at least one channel is showing it. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025/100 "2006-04-27T03:10:05Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > 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. In context, it would have been criminal to leave them out. That ending, with the final narration > [@](#): > > My father told me we was all born of blood and tribulation, and so then too was our great city. But for those of us that lived and died in them furious days, it was like everything we knew was mightily swept away. No matter what they did to build this city up again for the rest of time, it would be like no-one even knew we was ever here. …followed by the timelapse sequence with the cemetery being overgown in the foreground as the Manhattan skyline builds up over the decades… Wow, what a whallop. Has _The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart_ been rebroadcast in the past five years? Stanley’s apartment is improbably situated right across from the street from the WTC as it’s under construction. Some of the shots of it when they’re working on the second story have something of a different feeling to them, now. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-movies-that-have-had-things-edited-for-political-correctness-reasons/354025.md?page=6)