Update 5/1/24: The Bluey Youtube channel has made the forbidden episode available online! See below.
Bluey is a smash hit in the United States, but many viewers don’t know the show’s been edited for American audiences. In fact, one episode has been cut altogether. Here’s the supposed “controversy” around the Bluey scenes deemed unfit for American children.
Along with what exactly those kids are missing.
Some Bluey content is altered for cultural reasons
Bluey is made by Australian production company Ludo Studio, and aired on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In the U.S., Disney bought the rights to Bluey, and the show is available on Disney+, Disney Channel, and Disney Junior. However, the show has undergone some changes in its journey to the U.S.
Some edits are pretty benign. Different countries have different idioms and slang terms, which means that jokes will hit differently depending on which audience is viewing it. For example, in the original version of “Relax,” Bandit calls the kids dingleberries. Regardless of what Australians think of the word, in the U.S., Bandit is literally calling his kids pieces of sh*t, so Disney changed the line to “super troopers.” I, for one, am fine with that edit.
Other, more serious edits have been made before the show was even exported, after understandable objections from Australian audiences. In “Teasing,” Bandit and the kids originally tossed around a phrase that’s a slur against Indigenous people, but ABC changed it to “Shooby doo wah” after the episode aired. The episode “Exercise” was similarly edited to remove a scene in which Bandit and Chilli complain about their weight—again, 100% fine by me.
Some Bluey episodes are edited because America is run by prudes
Other Bluey episodes have slight edits to make the show’s content more palatable to the reactionary Christian theocracy that has a stranglehold on American culture!
Some episodes, like “Taxi” and “Markets,” have had references vomit and poop either toned down or cut. In one episode, “Daddy Putdown,” Bingo asks where babies come from, but the U.S. version doesn’t contain that line. Other episodes, like “Family Meeting,” took awhile to make it to the U.S. because of controversial talk about farts. Some viewers just don’t like the fact that living things have bodies.
However, those episodes are nothing compared to the episode that’s been hidden from U.S. audiences completely.
The fabled banned Bluey episode, “Dad Baby”
One Bluey episode is so extreme, so raunchy and out of control, that Disney apparently decided there was no way American kids could handle it. The very fabric of American society would unravel if its children laid eyes on these shocking seven minutes of Bluey content. (In all honesty, I’m guessing Disney just doesn’t want to deal with right-wing parents staging protests outside its headquarters.)
That episode is “Dad Baby,” and I’ve seen it. I won’t say how I got access to it, but I’ll mention that the Australian sitcom Aunty Donna’s Coffee Café is almost as good as its predecessor, Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun, which Americans can watch on Netflix. Poking your head outside of the American bubble is an amazing experience.
Anyway, “Dad Baby.” What is it about this episode that’s so noxiously offensive?
In “Dad Baby,” Bluey and Bingo find their old baby carrier, and Bandit shows them how it works by strapping it on. Bingo promptly crawls inside, and Bandit pretends to be pregnant. He complains about stretch marks, watches as Bingo eats all his food, and then goes into labor. With Lucky’s dad Pat acting as midwife, Bandit tries to give birth. Bingo wants to prolong the game, though, so she bites Pat’s and crawls back into the carrier. Pat eventually shoves his hand in the carrier and yanks her out.
That’s it. That’s all that happens. Here are a couple of clips that are freely available online. At a total runtime of about four minutes, they make up over half the entire episode.
Not to get too heavy all of a sudden, but anyone who’s been following American politics for the past few decades can see how this episode would piss off right-wingers. It messes with gender roles! It portrays pregnancy as a major thing that maybe people shouldn’t be forced to go through! If we allow American kids to contemplate the possibility of a pregnant man, next thing you know they’ll be supporting abortion care and trans rights and stuff! The horror!
So, should you let your kids watch “Dad Baby” if they get the chance? Yes. It’s fine. It’s cute and funny. It’s a normal Bluey episode that portrays a game of pretend. And if one of your kids grows up to be a pregnant man himself? Good for him.
UPDATE 5/1/24: The Bluey Youtube channel has put the entire episode online! Journalism works!
(featured image: Disney+)
