Disney Plus to "re-evaluate" censoring of Bluey episode focused on farting
The episode of the Australian kid's show centered around a mock-trial over a farting incident between the cartoon dog characters
Apparently, you can now add “farting” to the list of abhorrent things worthy of censorship according to Disney’s tedious Standards & Practices department. The Guardian reports that Disney+ will “re-evaluate” their ban on a fart-centric episode of the Australian cartoon series Bluey, after facing backlash for yet another odd case of censoring content on the streamer.
The episode from season three of the Emmy-winning series titled “Family Meeting” seems as silly and harmless as you can get. Set up as a court case scenario, the anthropomorphic Blue Heeler kiddos accuse their father of a crime most heinous: performing a fart or “fluffy” in their face. While fart jokes are a tale as old as time in kids’ television (we’re reminded of Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide icon Timmy Toot-Toot), Disney’s S&P department decided that this was a joke too smelly for the kiddos of Disney+, removing the episode from the lineup when Bluey was added to the platform.
However, censoring shows and movies isn’t anything new for the folks at Disney. In celebration of Gravity Falls’ 10th anniversary this year, series creator Alex Hirsch documented all the insanity that the series faced against Disney’s S&P department, including believing the show was referencing furries and wanting the word “crud” altered as it was viewed as “inappropriate.” That’s not to mention the butt-fiasco with Splash’s arrival on Disney+, which saw the worst digital addition of hair, all to cover up a quick shot of Daryl Hannah’s backside in the film.
After fans begin to spot the missing episode while pointing out how ridiculous the whole thing was, Disney has now backtracked on their initial banning of the episode.
“‘Family Meeting’ will roll out on US platforms soon,” said a Disney spokesperson to children’s entertainment site Pirates & Princesses. “Some of the Bluey content did not meet Disney Junior broadcast S&P in place at the time the series was acquired. Now that it is rolling out on other platforms, it is a great opportunity to reevaluate which is what we plan to do.”
While “dog families arguing about farting” has now been recognized as viewable content for kids on Disney+, this begs the question as to what other ridiculous items are on Disney’s S&P banned list.