Hamilton on Disney Plus will be censored – here's why
But it won't make a massive difference
Hamilton on Disney Plus is undoubtedly one of the biggest events of the summer on streaming service, offering people around the world a chance to see the biggest musical theater phenomenon of the past decade. But it will be tweaked slightly in its journey to the family-friendly streaming service.
The show has three instances of the word 'f*ck', and two will be removed to appease the MPAA's rule about that word. It seems arbitrary, but according to writer, lyricist and star Lin-Manuel Miranda, more than one utterance of the word garners an automatic R rating from the US ratings body. Hence, two instances of 'f*ck' have been removed.
Miranda explained why on Twitter, and where the two expletives were removed. The show won't be affected much, save for a mute during one instance and a record scratch during another:
...I literally gave two fucks so the kids could see it:1. In Yorktown, there's a mute over "I get the f___ back up again"2. "Southern *record scratch*kin' Democratic Republicans."You can sing whatEVER you like at home (even sync up the album)!Love you. Enjoy.June 22, 2020
As Miranda mentions above, too, you're getting a one-minute intermission in this version of Hamilton. When Hamilton was intended as a theatrical release prior to the announcement it was coming to Disney Plus, a 10-minute intermission was planned.
Hamilton arrives on Disney Plus on 3 July.
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Disney Plus has featured expletives before
Disney+ didn't want butts on their platform so they edited Splash with digital fur technology pic.twitter.com/df8XE0G9omApril 13, 2020
Disney's approach to what's considered adult is a little baffling. You might've seen the above clip of Daryl Hannah's butt being covered with artificial hair, for example, which is pretty funny. Would one butt really lead to the downfall of morality and therefore civilization?
There are instances of expletives on Disney Plus, though. In the UK, you can stream X-Men: Days of Future Past, which contains just one use of the word 'f*ck'. This is likely how the film got around being stuck with an R rating when it released in 2014.
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Samuel is a PR Manager at game developer Frontier. Formerly TechRadar's Senior Entertainment Editor, he's an expert in Marvel, Star Wars, Netflix shows and general streaming stuff. Before his stint at TechRadar, he spent six years at PC Gamer. Samuel is also the co-host of the popular Back Page podcast, in which he details the trials and tribulations of being a games magazine editor – and attempts to justify his impulsive eBay games buying binges.