When Disney+ announced that Hamilton would hit its streaming service in July, fans were noticeably concerned that Disney would censor the hit musical in order to keep it “family friendly.” It also didn’t help that when the announcement was made back in May, even Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda wasn’t entirely sure what changes would have to be made to prevent an R-rating, but he promised to keep them minimal.
“I think we’ll figure it out when we get there, but we’re not going to cut any sections of the show,” Miranda told New York Times reporter Kyle Buchanan at the time. “If we have to 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. I don’t think we’re depriving anyone of anything if we mute an f-bomb here or there to make our rating.”
Following the release of the official trailer for Hamilton on Disney+, Miranda took to Twitter to address fan concerns after they noticed that the musical had landed the desired PG-13 rating. Turns out, he was shooting it straight back in May when he promised not to cut a single scene and that the most amount of censorship would be muting an f-bomb here and there. Two, to be exact:
MPAA has a hard rule about language: more than 1 utterance of “F**k” is an automatic R rating. We have 3 “F**ks” in our show. So I literally gave two f**ks 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)!
You can see Lin-Manuel Miranda’s full statement below:
…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.— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) June 22, 2020
Hamilton hits Disney+ on July 3.
