Since it was launched last November, Disney+ has been victim to a large amount of controversy, stemming from not only scene cuts and slight changes, but vague warnings which seemingly brush off the “outdated cultural depictions” of some of its titles, too.
This time, however, the streaming giant is under fire for a very specific and not-so-subtle edit in the 1984 movie Splash.
During a brief, three-second snippet, where lead actress Daryl Hannah shows some skin while running towards the ocean, Disney made the decision to censor her bum — which is already mostly covered by her long blond hair.
But how can they censor that, some might ask? Well, thanks to the power of CGI technology, the company was able to alter the scene so that Hannah’s bum was covered by even more hair — in the form of an unnatural-looking digital wig.
As a result of the very small alteration to the much-beloved Ron Howard-directed, Tom Hanks-starring fantasy romcom, many Disney+ subscribers have become infuriated by the act of censorship.
Despite its original PG rating, it seems Disney has deemed Splash‘s partially nude scenes too inappropriate for children.
Addressing the changes, a warning can now be seen on Disney+ before the film begins, reading, “This film has been modified from its original version. It has been edited for content.”
Throughout the film, Hannah, 59 — who, spoiler alert, is secretly a mermaid — is seen several times in the nude, albeit mostly covered up.
At one point even Hanks, 63, is seen in the nude. However, all the scenes are of a non-sexual nature, which seems to be why so many people are upset with Disney’s decision.
Since being pointed out by Twitter user Allison Pregler, an abundance of people have questioned the company’s decision for such heavy censorship.
“Wait, so Disney+ censored Daryl Hannah’s butt in Splash but Hulk’s butt in Thor: Ragnarok is OK?” joked one user.
Here’s what some of other Twitter users had to say about the alteration:
One user even threatened the media giant with the possibility that they might unsubscribe from Disney+.
They tweeted: “I’m here to complain about you shoddily editing hair over Daryl Hannah’s butt in Splash. Please stop unnecessarily editing films and stop removing scenes. It’s silly and it makes me want to unsubscribe.”
In a similar scenario, Disney first faced major controversy just days after the launch of their popular streaming service.
While going through the Star Wars film saga before the debut of the series’ first-ever live-action series, The Mandalorian, some fans noticed a “new” edit included in 1977’s A New Hope.
In the Disney+ version of the cult classic sci-fi film, Greedo (the Rodian bounty hunter) now blurts out what sounds to be “Maclunkey,” before being shot and killed by main protagonist Han Solo (Harrison Ford).
Though the edit was a previously unreleased cut made by Star Wars creator and mastermind, George Lucas, Disney took the brunt of the hit — mostly mockery — for including it in the first place.
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