By The British Board of Film Classification in the UK has increased the age rating for Disney’s 1964 classic “Mary Poppins”.
Specifically, the film’s rating, which has long been a U with “no material likely to offend or harm,” has now been lifted to a PG for “discriminatory language”.
A BBFC spokesperson explains the film uses a discriminatory term twice. The word is a racially insensitive term for the South African indigenous group the Khoekhoe.
In addition, the word is used in the film by Admiral Boom (Reginald Owen) when referring to the chimney sweeps whose faces are covered in soot. In a statement to Variety, they say:
“While ‘Mary Poppins’ has a historical context, the use of discriminatory language is not condemned, and ultimately exceeds our guidelines for acceptable language at U. We therefore classified the film PG for discriminatory language.”
The original “Mary Poppins” starred Julie Andrews as the magical nanny and Dick Van Dyke as her sidekick Bert. The cast also included David Tomlinson, Glynis Johns, Hermione Baddeley, Karen Dotrice, Matthew Garber, Elsa Lanchester, Arthur Treacher and Ed Wynn.
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