8 Movies That Were Changed AFTER They Were Released

2. Disney Had To Change Some "Racist" Song Lyrics (Aladdin)

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Disney

At face value, Disney's 1992 animated classic seems like one of the least offensive movies ever made, with its family-friendly story, light-hearted humour and whimsical characters.

But believe it or not, it actually did cause some offence, with a vocal group of Arab-Americans taking issue with certain lyrics in one of the movie's songs - Arabian Nights - and labelling them as racist. As a result, Disney was forced to alter said lyrics, months after the film had been released in cinemas.

Originally, the lyrics went as follows:

"Oh, I come from a land, from a faraway place, where the caravan camels roam. Where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face, it’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home."

But after Disney met with members of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee - and sought the approval of lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken - the line "where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face" was changed to "where it’s flat and immense and the heat is intense".

These new lyrics are what you'll hear if you boot up the film today, but anyone who saw Aladdin in cinemas in 1992 may still remember the original version.

Arab groups also pushed for the word "barbaric" to be removed as well, but Disney stood firm on that front, insisting that the term referred to the unforgiving terrain and not the people.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.