Hamilton film had to be censored for Disney+, Lin-Manuel Miranda reveals

‘I literally gave two f***s so the kids could see it’

Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda has revealed that the hip-hop musical had to be censored in order to go on Disney+.

With the film heading to Disney's streaming service on 3 July, Miranda admitted on Twitter that some of Hamilton’s swearing had to be cut in order for the film be given the required PG-13 rating.

The composer and actor explained: “On July 3, you’re getting the whole show, every note & scene, & a 1-minute countdown clock during intermission (bathroom!)

“But MPAA has a hard rule about language: more than 1 utterance of ‘f***’ is an automatic R rating. We have 3 ‘f***s’ in our show. So I literally gave two f***s so the kids could see it.”

Explaining which tracks would be censored, he continued: “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)!”

However, in later replies to fans, the composer and lyricist confirmed that lesser instances of swearing had made the cut and would still feature in the film.

Earlier this week, the trailer for Hamilton was released. It was recorded across three performances with the original Broadway cast in 2016.

Hamilton was originally scheduled to be released in cinemas on 15 October 2021, but will instead exclusively debut on Disney+ on 3 July 2020 after a reported £58m deal.

Ahead of its release, Disney has scrapped the streaming service’s seven day free trial period, meaning that viewers will have to pay for a subscription in order to watch it.