AP/ February 11, 2009, 5:26 PM

"God" Bleeped Out Of "The Queen"

So much for God and country, at least during some in-flight showings of the Oscar-nominated movie "The Queen." All mentions of God are bleeped out of a version of the film distributed to Delta and some other airlines.

Jeff Klein, president of Jaguar Distribution, the Studio City, Calif., company that supplied the movie to the airlines earlier this month, said it was a mistake committed by an overzealous and inexperienced employee who had been told to edit out all profanities and blasphemies.

"A reference to God is not taboo in any culture that I know of," Klein said. "We excise foul language, excessive violence and nudity."

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Airline passengers watching the movie hear "(Bleep) bless you, ma'am," as one character speaks to the queen. In all, the word "God" is bleeped seven times. (At no time in the original movie is "God save the queen" uttered.)

Klein said he discovered the mistake after a London-bound Air New Zealand passenger complained. Jaguar has been sending out new, unedited copies to the airlines.

Airlines routinely show movies from which graphic scenes and strong profanities are edited out.

"The Queen" is about Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair in the week following Princess Diana's death in 1997.

A spokesman for Miramax, which produced the movie, had no comment on the episode.

The editor responsible for the mistake is still working in the Jaguar editing lab, Klein said.
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hermit22 says:
"seems silly to remove common blasphemy from a movie" shows a very sad state for media and the culture.

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cbs_oliver says:
On the other hand, it seems silly to remove common blasphemy from a movie about the real world - especially when "God bless the Queen" is a common drinking toast.
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cbs_oliver says:
There is a commandment not to take the name of the Lord in vain. Seems clear enough.

On the other hand people do it all the time. But they also lie cheat and steal all the time and kill often enough too.

I keep waiting for a voice from above to say "Would you like fries with that?" whenever someone says "God bless America".

I figure they are making a public demonstration of piety p esentially praying on the corner for all to see.

I think Mathew reports Christ saying not to do that.

Oh well.
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Ed0719 says:
scottny1: Delta wasn't he one censoring the film, it was the distributer which sent the film to many airlines. It was simply that a passenger on a Delta flight was the one who brought it to attention. Your condemnation of the airline for something they didn't do is unwarranted.
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sandycat2 says:
Something is very wrong when the word God is bleeped out of a movie. Where is peoples' common sense?
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dixiebobh says:
As for the VP, if anyaaone rode his fat *** out of Jerusalem, it was the Chimp.
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dixiebobh says:
This entire over zealous attempt, as most others, is an asinine attempt to be politically correct. In order to offend no one, we will end up offending everyone.

I wonder what the Queen thinks?
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scottny1 says:
At least I know not to fly Delta anymore. God forbid They experience complications on one of their flights, I wonder how many of people will then call out *!@'s name? Just a thought
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inventagod says:
CBS is just as silly:

Vice President *** Cheney Said Jesus rode his *** out of Bethlehem...

Silly, silly, silly.
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