Warning: ‘Hamilton’ on Disney Plus will have one F-word
Leslie Odom Jr. as Aaron Burr, left, and Lin-Manuel Miranada as Alexander Hamilton in “Hamilton.” | Disney Plus Media Relations
Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda announced the ‘Hamilton’ film will be censored
The film version of the “Hamilton” Broadway play — set to release on Disney Plus in July — will be lightly censored before its release, creator Lin-Manuel Miranda announced Monday.
What’s going on:
- Miranda said on Twitter he and his team had to find a way to eliminate the F-word from the play, something that is said three times throughout the production. The Deseret News did not link to the tweet because it contains the F-word.
- The word appears in the songs “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)” and “Washington On Your Side.”
- The film adaption will drop two uses of the word, leaving one use.
- The Motion Pictures Association of American says that PG-13 ratings can have one use of the F-word. Well, that’s more of a guideline:
The Rating Board nevertheless may rate such a motion picture PG-13 if, based on a special vote by a two-thirds majority, the Raters feel that most American parents would believe that a PG-13 rating is appropriate because of the context or manner in which the words are used or because the use of those words in the motion picture is inconspicuous.
- Miranda told The New York Times that his team would “mute a word here or there to reach the largest audience possible, I’m OK with that, because your kids already have the original language memorized.”
- He said he doesn’t “think we’re depriving anyone of anything if we mute an F-bomb here or there to make our rating.”
Some context for Disney Plus
Disney Plus has been widely seen as good for families since it doesn’t include any R-rated or mature films. Disney Plus added a message ahead of films like “Dumbo,” “The Aristocats,” “The Jungle Book” and the original “Lady and the Tramp” that reads: “This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”
The Parents Television Council said when the service launched that Disney is mostly safe for families but PG-13 films could pose a problem.
PTC said: “Even titles from Marvel and ‘Star Wars’ franchises contain higher levels of violence, and some PG-13 titles may include harsher language or profanity, sexual innuendo or suggestive dialogue. To be an even more ideal streaming platform for families, Disney Plus must give families the ability to allow filtering.”