"Bully" gets a PG-13 rating after profanity edits

(CBS/AP) After weeks of controversy, The Weinstein Co. will release an edited PG-13 version of the film "Bully" across the U.S. on April 13.

The Motion Picture Association of America initially gave the film an R rating for language, meaning kids under 17 were restricted from seeing it without an accompanying adult.

Read more: "Bully" will have no rating in movie theaters
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The MPAA declined to change the rating when The Weinstein Co. appealed. The company released the film March 30 in limited release without a rating.

"Bully," directed by Lee Hirsch, is an examination of school bullying that follows five kids over the course of a school year.

The Weinstein Co. said three uses of an expletive were removed to earn the PG-13 rating.

"I feel completely vindicated with this resolution," Hirsch said in a statement. "While I retain my belief that PG-13 has always been the appropriate rating for this film, as reinforced by Canada's rating of a PG, we have today scored a victory from the MPAA."

Hirsch initially declined to edit the documentary's offensive language because it would diminish the painful reality of bullying.

The Weinstein Co. later decided to resubmit a new version of "Bully," and the MPAA ratings board gave it a PG-13 for intense thematic material, disturbing content and some strong language - all involving kids, Joan Graves, chairman of the classification and rating administration, said in a statement.

Hirsch told the Los Angeles Times, "This was about drawing the line but not being utterly unreasonable. What's absolutely relevant is the scene that we retained. There was one [obscenity in another scene] I didn't want to give up. But I didn't want to hold back all the groups that wanted to see the movie, Boy and Girl Scout groups and school groups, that wouldn't be able to go if we stayed unrated."

Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees were among the celebrity supporters of the film.