People were actually angry about Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers being released in 2002 because they thought it was an insensitive reference to the World Trade Center. (The novel was published in 1954, and the WTC was nicknamed The TWIN Towers, not The Two Towers) - ThreadSky

charlesgaba.com • 4 days ago

People were actually angry about Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers being released in 2002 because they thought it was an insensitive reference to the World Trade Center.

(The novel was published in 1954, and the WTC was nicknamed The TWIN Towers, not The Two Towers)

Reposted from Alt Shiv Posting Service

"Was it really this dumb in 2003" guys they renamed french fries

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tuttyfrutty.bsky.social•4 days ago

The sci-fi show Firefly was cancelled because they were against a fictional government.

chaosrocket.bsky.social•4 days ago

Nah it was just canceled because of low ratings, it came out slightly before genre shows got widely popular, and the fact it was in a weird time slot and they played the episodes out of order didn’t help.

willmaguire.bsky.social•4 days ago

There was some soulless money drone producer that didn’t like it.

moriavulcanus.bsky.social•4 days ago

Yes! I remember people being offended by the title on social media! No one else ever mentions it.

zerpant.bsky.social•4 days ago

Reminds me of when they yanked the original “The Manchurian Candidate” because of the Kennedy assassination. It was years before it was rereleased.

neal58021.bsky.social•4 days ago

Nostradamus was in on the whole thing too

kincheloe.bsky.social•4 days ago

offs

loveblue28.bsky.social•4 days ago

WTF!!!

oasisthemepark.bsky.social•4 days ago

People got upset about Weird Al's song Christmas at Ground Zero.
People thought the song was referencing the Twin Towers.
The 1986 song is about nuclear war happening during Christmas.
OTP vp

charlesgaba.com•4 days ago

Hollywood also went into a panic editing movies & TV shows to remove any shots of or references to the WTC, even if the story was set BEFORE 2001.

grandpadavid.bsky.social•4 days ago

Microsoft quickly released an (optional) update to the New York scenery in Flight Simulator. Doubtless there were ghouls re-creating the attack anyway.

kerravon.bsky.social•4 days ago

If I remember correctly the first Raimi "Spider-Man" had to be hastily rewritten and reshot b/c the climax was originally going to be at the WTC.

charlesgaba.com•4 days ago

Not sure about the film itself, but the teaser trailer absolutely had to be pulled almost immediately: https://youtu.be/Ozz8uxW733Q?si=vUAshsie2tZiTb7Z

kerravon.bsky.social•4 days ago

I could be confusing the two.

kerravon.bsky.social•4 days ago

I know they had to alter the opening sequence to "The Sopranos" between Seasons 3 and 4.

charlesgaba.com•4 days ago

One of the more understandable changes made by Hollywood at the time was to immediately yank this teaser trailer for "Spider-Man" for obvious reasons (the trailer had been released a few weeks before the 9/11 attacks)...

https://youtu.be/Ozz8uxW733Q?si=vUAshsie2tZiTb7Z

thommyla.bsky.social•4 days ago

There was a teaser poster that was pulled as well. The WTC towers were reflected in his “eyes,” creating an anachronistic image as said towers no longer existed…

charlesgaba.com•4 days ago

Yup:

thommyla.bsky.social•4 days ago

I was working at Sony Studios in the 9/11 era. I remember the poster dept pulling all these one-sheets from display cases around the lot. Unlike a few coworkers I knew, I never got my hands on one of these rarities.

tmkeesey.bsky.social•4 days ago

I was working on the movie website for that at the time. One of us had to blur out the city skyline reflected in Spidey’s goggles.

allanlear.bsky.social•4 days ago

They also edited a terrible "New York solidarity!" scene into the film that was so laughably implausible, Raimi himself sent it up in the sequel.

charlesgaba.com•4 days ago

The eeriest coincidence was the pilot episode of "The Lone Gunmen," which had aired six months earlier.

The plot involved a government conspiracy to hijack an airliner & fly it into the World Trade Center in order to blame the attack on terrorists to launch a war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6oztmpw9nU

grandpadavid.bsky.social•4 days ago

The *second* attempt to give the first performance of John Adams' "Short Ride in a Fast Machine" at the BBC Promenade Concerts was scheduled for the evening of 9/11. It was called off.

The first attempt was scheduled for the day after Princess Diana died. 1/

grandpadavid.bsky.social•4 days ago

I was at a Prom in 1968 when a Soviet orchestra and Mstislav Rostropovich played the ultra-Czech Dvorak cello concerto - the day the Russians invaded Prague. That was not called off, but Slava was weeping and most of the other players were deeply upset.

ryanlohner.bsky.social•4 days ago

I still suspect this was supposed to actually be in the movie as the big reveal of Spider-Man's outfit, which you might notice doesn't have any kind of reveal shot in the movie as is.

ryanlohner.bsky.social•4 days ago

Oddly enough, one of the few with the guts to keep the towers in was Don't Say a Word, a very silly movie that was supposed to be Brittany Murphy's big "Look, I can be a great dramatic actress" moment. It's most famous for her doing a singsong "I'll never tell."

ryanlohner.bsky.social•4 days ago

Another was the closing montage of Gangs of New York. Scorsese did consider adding a bit with the towers getting removed, but then decided it would clash with the tone too much.

emmasloley.bsky.social•4 days ago

omg, I'd forgotten this 🫠

keeganc15.bsky.social•4 days ago

This was VERY confusing to me as a child at the time !

hyouvizer.bsky.social•4 days ago

I remember shows airing the U.S. even censored the word "terrorist" too

auldgye.bsky.social•4 days ago

As the saying goes, "Stupid is a well with no bottom."

handtotheneedle.bsky.social•4 days ago

Oh golly, I'd completely forgotten that 🤦‍♀️

schroedinger.bsky.social•4 days ago

Also this Starbucks ad, and Rachel Ray wearing a scarf.

thedevilkitty.bsky.social•4 days ago

Oh God, my eye still twitches about that... *Tolkien fan since the books were read at bedtime*

jim-gisriel.bsky.social•4 days ago

Hey I was there and that was a joke that a guy started that got out of hand a bit. But it was satire

If you look at this post from then it’s an obvious joke

https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/petition-to-rename-the-two-towers-to-something-less-offensive.838446/

moriavulcanus.bsky.social•4 days ago

I was also there and at least some were very serious. But then certain types always love to use "it was a joke" as an excuse

saudadedreams.bsky.social•4 days ago

Didn't the studio execs try to get the film renamed and Jackson had to fight like hell to stop them?

charlesgaba.com•4 days ago

Probably.

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