A homophobic taunt from Sam Raimi's 2002 Spider-Man movie was cut from a UK broadcast of the film.
The controversial joke was from a scene in which Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker taunts Bonesaw McGraw–played by the late "Macho" Man Randy Savage–in a wrestling match by implying his burly opponent might be gay.
Parker originally quipped:
"That's a cute outfit... did your husband give it to you?"
Twitter user @PaperPlaneTF shared the censored version that aired on the UK channel ITV2 over the weekend, which you can see here.
THEY REMOVED PETER PARKER'S HOMOPHOBIApic.twitter.com/QmbFabVpc7— PaperPlane (@PaperPlane) 1650741836
The modified scene removing the "husband" line is an indication of how much times have changed, where two decades ago, casual digs at the LGBTQ+ community were prevalent without consequences even in family-friendly fare such as Spider-Man.
People had plenty to say about the removed line, including the expected complaints about "wokeness" ruining the film and others arguing it's not that deep.
Oh no now raimi fans can\u2019t enjoy their homophobic Spider-Man:( seriously tho imagine being a kid confused about their sexuality and then a joke like that is made by fucking Spider-Man which makes it seem like it\u2019s a bad thing to have a same sex partner— Michael\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Michael\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1650812048
Its not that deep bro, it was a throwaway joke, most people don\u2019t care if they remove it or not. Also Im part of the LGBTQ+ community so don\u2019t try to justify your sensitivity with homophobia.— Spiderdorf (@Spiderdorf) 1650815779
So many things happen in this world, countless deaths, robberies, and many other things. And what makes people mad is a JOKE in a SPIDER-MAN MOVIE. Learn to take a joke. seriously. And the intent behind it wasn\u2019t even bad, y\u2019all just want something to be mad about.— . (@.) 1650838845
"haha, to think that this was once so common that it would be in a movie" without being offended. It implies some pretty rough things that TV execs think today's audience needs to be shielded from even being exposed to such a line.— redsoxu571 (@redsoxu571) 1650919115
You can love the movie, but that 'joke' aged really bad and you know it.— Carlos esperando las llaves de la casa (@Carlos esperando las llaves de la casa) 1650866138
The tweet also sparked a debate about what is deemed homophobic.
just because you tease another man for beign gay doesnt make you an homophobic, atleast thats not why most men do it, we do it not because we hate gay men, but because we know the other person would get defensive when he gets called gay— Josh Flowers (@Josh Flowers) 1650823297
teasing people about homosexuality implies (whether or not you beleive it) that it is a bad thing to be gay. It is definitely an act of homophobia but one act of homophobia doesn\u2019t make a homophobe.— Mr. Coaster (@Mr. Coaster) 1650835622
I disagree with it being removed and I don\u2019t think there is anything wrong with it. But you could make the argument that they way he says it implies that being gay is a bad thing, or something you should be made fun for. Cus the response today would be \u201cso what if he did?\u201d— Ethan (@Ethan) 1650878231
Everyone can\u2019t seem to understand that Spider-Man says this because Bonesaw is very clearly a big, burly macho man (no pun intended) alpha-male, kinda guy with his own team of 4 beautiful women/cheerleaders at the ringside and implying that he\u2019s gay is a good way to rile him up.— Joey Penson (@Joey Penson) 1650833247
This is getting way moar attention than I expected, just wanna say that, no, the original line isn't homophobic. It's been a joke for a little while now that Spider-Man is insensitive to this man's husband.pic.twitter.com/RFkhJw5BA6— PaperPlane (@PaperPlane) 1650808725
Are we like pretending that insinuating a guy sleeps with men to demasculate him is like not homophobic now? Like for currently in a new wave of a homophobia but we're already rewriting the last one?— Galv \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf7 (@Galv \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf7) 1650855442
The original line is absolutely homophobic. It's mild, but yeah still homophobic.— Tiemble (@Tiemble) 1650826470
That joke implies that a man having a husband is something to be mocked. How can you not see that?— moviebuffer (@moviebuffer) 1650989738
According to Comicbookmovie, this is the first time the homophobic line was removed from this version of the Spider-Man film.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
@Sebachambe/X
@_e_tto/X
@tedcruz/X
@whatevervisions/X
@GroksHandler/X
@texan77581/X