Peter Jackson’s new documentary series, The Beatles: Get Back, debuted on Disney+ on Thanksgiving taking fans into the making of the legendary band’s iconic final studio album, Let it Be. It’s a raw look at the band and the making of the album, and according to Jackson, Disney asked him to censor the series. In an interview with NME (via CBR), Jackson revealed that Disney asked him to remove all of the swearing from the series, but that it’s a request he denied at the request of the surviving Beatles. “Disney wanted to remove all the swearing,” Jackson said. “And Ringo [Starr], Paul [McCartney] and [George Harrison’s widow] Olivia said ‘That’s how we spoke. That’s how we talked. That’s how we want the world to see us.’” He added that McCartney felt the documentary was raw and accurate and that Starr found it truthful, but more than that, upon seeing the completed project, they gave him no notes on things that they wanted to be changed. “When they got to see the finished thing, I was expecting notes,” Jackson said. “It would’ve just been normal to get a note saying, ‘Oh, that bit where I say that – could you cut that out?’ Or, ‘Could you shorten the conversation there?’ And I didn’t get a single note. Not one request to do anything.” While Disney, with its family-friendly image, might be a platform where such censorship requests aren’t entirely surprising, they’re not the only company requesting or making changes to content over various concerns, including language. Recently, DC fans discovered that Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) had been censored on HBO Max with the film carrying a disclaimer that it had been edited for content. The R-rated film had its language and violence toned down. The HBO Max version of the film carries a TV-14 rating. For Jackson, keeping the swearing in The Beatles: Get Back was important to maintaining the authenticity of the experience for the surviving Beatles.
