This is one interesting side effect of the September 11th attacks that doesn't really get discussed all that much for whatever reason. Everyone here that is old enough to remember the aftermath of 9/11, though, will recall that things got more than a bit out of hand during late 2001/early 2002 when it came to censorship. Not only were people expected to pretty much fall in line behind the administration of George W. Bush and fully support whatever plan for retaliation that they devised, many mass media companies also became very over sensitive to the presence of anything in movies, TV, video games or music that they felt might "remind" people of 9/11.

What I have compiled here is a list of the some of the more egregious examples of censorship that occurred after 9/11. For further reference, a more complete account can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_entertainment_affected_by_the_September_11_attacks

Movies

*Trailers for the film Spider-Man were edited so a scene (not in the film) showing Spider-Man capturing a helicopter between the towers was deleted. In the actual film, a shot of the World Trade Center was deleted. The scene of Spider-Man hanging onto a flagpole with a large American flag, seen in later trailers and at the end of the film, was added in response to the attacks.

*In the film Zoolander, the WTC was digitally deleted.

*Shots of the WTC in Serendipity were digitally removed.

*In the 2001 film Spy Game, the level of smoke shown following a bombing was reduced because of its similarity to the smoking WTC wreckage.

*The 2002 film Men in Black II featured a climax that included the World Trade Center. The building was changed to the Statue of Liberty.

*A scene in The Time Machine, in which debris from the moon crashes into a building, was edited for its resemblance to the towers.

*The ending to the 2002 animated film Lilo and Stitch was edited from Stitch taking a 747 on a joyride and swerving around buildings, to Stitch taking a spaceship on a joyride and swerving around mountains. The original ending was included on the special edition DVD.

*The 2002 film The Bourne Identity was extensively edited due to the involvement of terrorism in the storyline. On the special edition DVD are descriptions of how and why the film was changed.

*Early versions of the 2004 film The Incredibles featured a scene where a frustrated Mr. Incredible vents his emotions on an abandoned building, but ends up accidentally damaging a neighboring building as well. This was considered too reminiscent of the World Trade Center collapse, and was replaced with a scene where Mr. Incredible and Frozone rescue trapped civilians from a burning building.

TV

*On the TV series Friends, in episode 8x03 ("The One Where Rachel Tells..."), Chandler and Monica could not get on their flight for their honeymoon because Chandler joked about a bombing in the airport. After the attacks, the story was rewritten and re-shot. Additionally, as the show was set in New York, a screen reading "Dedicated to the People of New York City" was added to the end of episode 8x01 ("The One After 'I Do'"), which was the first episode of the series to be broadcast after the attacks.

*The syndicated version of the Married... with Children episode "Get Outta Dodge" featured a scene of two Arabs with a ticking bomb at the front door of Al Bundy's house offering to buy his Dodge for $40 and asking for directions to the Sears Tower. The scene was cut from the syndicated re-airings of the episode after 9/11. The episode is intact on DVD releases.

*An episode of The Simpsons entitled "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson", which was partially set at the World Trade Center, was pulled from syndication by some carriers, though many are now showing it again.

*Power Rangers Time Force had a number of changes, including the episode "Ransik Lives" was edited to remove Ransik's television broadcast due to its similarity to Osama Bin Laden's speeches, and some of the show's building destruction sequences were removed from select episodes following the attacks, as they were very similar to the World Trade Center collapse.

*Two episodes of Pokémon were temporarily taken off the air. The episode "Tentacool and Tentacruel ", due to scenes where a giant Tentacruel destroys a town called Porta Vista, and the episode "The Tower of Terror", where Ash, Misty, and Brock are in Lavender Town in order to catch a Ghost-type Pokémon so that Ash would have an advantage over Saffron City's Gym Leader, Sabrina, who uses Psychic-type Pokémon. While no explanation has been given, it most likely had something to do with the name.

Music

Clear Channel asked it's stations to stop playing numerous songs including:

*Duck and Run by 3 Doors Down
*7 different songs by AC/DC
*Rooster by Alice in Chains
*Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles
*Sabotage by The Bestie Boys
*Ticket to Ride by The Beatles
*Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar
*That'll Be The Day by Buddy Holly
*Santa Monica by Everclear
*Learning to Fly by Foo Fighters
*Bennie and the Jets by Elton John
*Fly Away by Lenny Kravitz
*Break Stuff by Limp Bizkit
*Tuesday's Gone by Lynyrd Skynyrd
*Crash into Me by Dave Matthews Band
*American Pie by Don McLean
*Free Fallin' by Tom Petty
*Another One Bites the Dust by Queen
*All songs by Rage Against the Machine
*Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers
*Ruby Tuesday by The Rolling Stones
*Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden
*Fly by Sugar Ray
*Fire and Rain by James Taylor
*Jumper by Third Eye Blind
*Jump by Van Halen

Video Games

*The video game Grand Theft Auto III, released in October 2001, was delayed almost a month to make last-minute changes, since the producers' offices were near Ground Zero, and since the game was set in a city loosely based on New York City. The paint scheme of the city's police cars was also changed from a blue-and-white NYPD design to a black-and-white LAPD design during game development. One mission which referenced terrorists was completely removed. Other changes which were relatively minor included altering the flight path of an AI plane that went near skyscrapers, and removing a few lines of pedestrian dialogue and talk radio.

* Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was released as scheduled in November 2001 despite the plot centering on terrorists in New York City and a scene in which a giant battleship crashes into Federal Hall; however, a scene in which Arsenal Gear, a futuristic mobile fortress, destroys the Statue of Liberty and much of Manhattan's Financial District was removed, as was live-action footage of the Twin Towers originally slated to be used in the ending.

*The Dreamcast game Propeller Arena was cancelled. It was an air combat game which featured modern-day dog fighting with planes in cities that had skyscraper buildings. A leaked and completed version has since made it to the Internet.

*The PlayStation 2 game Shinobi originally had a scene in which the main character jumps out of a helicopter and sticks his sword into the side of a skyscraper to slow his fall. When this character hit the ground, the building was supposed to shatter. The scene was removed.

*The PlayStation game Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro's final level was changed. Originally it was a showdown between Spider-Man and Electro atop the World Trade Center. This was changed to the top of another generic skyscraper. The New York City skyline was also obscured by a storm so that the World Trade Center was not visible.

There are some more interesting things that were edited after 9/11.

TV

*In the opening credits of The Sopranos, a shot of the twin towers visible in Tony Soprano's rearview mirror was deleted.

*Sex and the City, showed a quick shot of the World Trade Center in its opening credits (with the name of its lead actress, Sarah Jessica Parker). For seasons 5 and 6, shown after 9/11, the visual was changed to a stylized shot of the Empire State Building.

*The television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit originally included an image of the World Trade Center which was removed for the start of the third season three weeks later.

*Two episodes of Pokémon were temporarily taken off the air after 9/11:

The episode "Tentacool and Tentacruel", due to scenes where a giant Tentacruel destroys a town called Porta Vista. Interestingly, a scene of the giant Tentacruel smashing a skyscraper was never removed from the opening credits of the first season, though it seems likely it was because that the season had already ended and the anime had already advanced by more than three seasons.

The other is "The Tower of Terror", an episode where Ash, Misty, and Brock are in Lavender Town in order to catch a Ghost-type Pokémon so that Ash would have an advantage over Saffron City's Gym Leader, Sabrina, who uses Psychic-type Pokémon. While no explanation has been given, it most likely had something to do with the name.

Games

*The video game Grand Theft Auto III, released in October 2001, was delayed almost a month to make last-minute changes, since the producers' offices were near Ground Zero, and since the game was set in a city loosely based on New York City. The paint scheme of the city's police cars was also changed from a blue-and-white NYPD design to a black-and-white LAPD design during game development. One mission which referenced terrorists was completely removed. Other changes which were relatively minor included altering the flight path of an AI plane that went near skyscrapers, and removing a few lines of pedestrian dialogue and talk radio.

*Microsoft removed the World Trade Center from Microsoft Flight Simulator beginning with the 2002 edition. Also, Microsoft removed Crash Damage from the games. That meant that when a plane crashed, it did not catch alight. There were however third-party mods bringing crash damage back.

Also WWE was forced to become RAW again, and take the name RAW is WAR off due to the attacks. 9/11 changed a lot of things jeez! :o

Also WWE was forced to become RAW again, and take the name RAW is WAR off due to the attacks. 9/11 changed a lot of things jeez! :o


I know I remember that, they changed to Monday Night RAW.

George Carlin's Complaints and Grievances was originally going to be titled I Kinda Like It When a Lot of People Die before the 9/11 attacks.

I remember reading that a poster for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remake movie from a couple of years ago had to be changed because it reminded people of 9/11.  If I remember correctly it was of one of the turtles flying out of a burning building.