Top 10 Things Censored On Disney Plus

We open our list with a question: what could a program geared towards toddlers possibly have content-wise that could warrant censoring? Would you believe…poop? Yup. There's a scene in the first season’s episode "Markets" that features a horse doing his business after being pet by a group of kids. On Disney+, the scene now only shows the horse wagging his tail. Elsewhere, there was also the temporary removal of two episodes titled "Teasing" and “Flat Pack”. Parental pressure and complaints led to it being excluded in the series run on Disney+.

The removal and censoring of tobacco imagery is something comparatively recent in the world of movies and television. It was never a big deal for protagonists to be seen smoking in the past, but today's entertainment requires a warning advisory if that sort of content is included. "The Muppet Christmas Carol," available on Disney+, no longer includes the street choir conductor smoking a cigarette, with the offending nicotine stick having since been digitally removed. Any Jim Henson fans wishing to see the unedited image should either check the recent Blu-Ray version of the film, or dig out their old VHS!

Intentional or not, this line from "The Santa Clause" was the reason for a lot of concern from parents back in the nineties. Why, you ask? Well, a seemingly harmless joke about an adult entertainment phone line accidentally used a real number in the script, leading curious kids to call the number and…well, you get the idea. Parents were not happy, and the scene was edited on both home video and Disney+. It's still there, but the characters don't reference the number at all anymore, and the scene goes on as if the joke never existed.

Ask any child of the eighties which episode of "Punky Brewster" they remember, and the odds are pretty good that they'll reference that one time Cherie Johnson got locked in an old refrigerator. Maybe this explains the inspiration for 2002's "Lilo and Stitch," where Lilo originally chooses a dryer for her hiding place. The version on Disney+ has since been changed in quite possibly the weirdest way. The dryer was turned into a cupboard of sorts, with the top of a pizza box acting as the dryer’s door. This was presumably changed so that kids wouldn't get the idea to try this stunt themselves. Or, you know, they could just go back and watch some "Punky" instead!

There have actually been a bunch of changes made to "The Simpsons" on Disney+, with some episodes having gone missing altogether. Specifically, the famous episode that featured The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, as a guest star is gone, perhaps due to the controversy behind the documentary "Leaving Neverland." A joke at the Catholic Church's expense in the episode "Sunday Cruddy Sunday" now omits the word "Catholic" altogether, opting for the use of just the word ‘church.’ Also, the episode "Gorgeous Grampa" leaves out the Harlem Shake parody during the opening couch gag. We’re not too sure what that’s about, though... Maybe they figured we wouldn't remember what it was? Leave your theories in the comments!

Some of the edits in this list have been pretty silly or funny, but there's nothing humorous about the implications behind this joke. There's a reference to R. Kelly made during the episode "There Goes the Bride," when Raven says she’s fifteen to a crowd who believes she’s getting married to an older man. The joke was taken out when "That's So Raven" migrated to Disney+. The episode "Driving Miss Lazy" also features a loud conversation where some viewers claim to have heard Raven drop a disparaging racial remark. The episode has since been edited with the conversation mixed so that no real dialogue can be discerned.

Disney is a family friendly company. We all know this. We also know, however, that the company experimented with some awesome, more PG-rated fare back in the seventies and eighties, such as “The Black Hole,” “Midnight Madness” and “The Black Cauldron.” However, this doesn't mean that Disney+ is about to allow nudity on their watch, however brief. If you’re thinking of the movie “Splash”, you’d be right on. The version on the streaming service has added a mound of what we can assume is CGI hair--or “fur”, as one Twitter user puts it--to Daryl Hannah’s nude behind. Is this computer-generated coverup distracting? Why yes, yes it is. In fact, it seems to draw more attention to Hannah's body than if it’d just been left unedited.

The eighties were...a different time. We've already made mention of changing social mores, how they affect censorship, and what's considered acceptable with regards to film ratings. The eighties’ classic "Adventures in Babysitting" was rated PG-13, which means that it was technically allowed one F-bomb. But don't go looking for that iconic line on the Disney+ cut. Instead, Elisabeth Shue says something about not "fooling" with the babysitter, which is just lame if you ask us. Incidentally, a homophobic remark early on in the film was changed to the word "weirdo," but this edit goes way back to when the film was originally shown on television. Obviously, it's also been kept that way for the streaming platform.

If you were a parent who stayed for the credits of Toy Story 2 when it was first released in theatres, you may have been surprised by the crassness of a particular end-credit scene. It made an implicit reference to the endemic Hollywood practice of aspiring actors and actresses being pressured into doing favors in exchange for a role. There's nothing funny about it, which perhaps explains why this joke was cut on later versions of "Toy Story 2." During the original credits, Sneaky Pete insinuates that he can get a pair of Barbie dolls roles in "Toy Story 3," presumably for something in return. We get dark humor, but this is definitely pretty skeezy, especially for a movie aimed at kids.

Before we name our number one pick, here are some honorable mentions!

"Clock Cleaners" (1937)
He Said “Duck You”, Right? ...Right?!

"Knick Knack" (1989)
A Bust Reduction for an Inanimate Object

"A Goofy Movie" (1995)
A Little Ditty About Max and Roxanne

A WHOLE lot has been edited from the original run of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" For starters, Baby Herman raising his middle finger has been removed. And, by this, we mean it was digitally painted over. Remember animated icon Betty Boop and her revealing dress slip over at The Ink and Paint Club? Thankfully, saved from prying eyes. Then, there's that infamous underwear reveal when Jessica Rabbit takes a tumble out of Benny the Cab. That’s also been made more kid-friendly on Disney+. In actuality, all of these changes were from before streaming platforms, meaning that you're gonna have to treasure those old LaserDiscs, VHS tapes, or simply your memories, if you’re on the hunt for an unedited version of this classic.