We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more.

Gravity Falls creator shares Disney’s bizarre censorship notes

Alex Hirsch, the creator of Gravity Falls has shared some of the email exchanges he had with Disney while writing the scripts, and their hilarious notes

Gravity Falls
Fiona Underhill's Avatar

Published:

Gravity Falls 

Alex Hirsch, the creator of Gravity Falls, has shared a video which reveals some of the censorship from Disney he received when making the show. This includes disputes over words such as poop, crud, and even hoo-ha. And he was told to remove a pipe from a horse’s mouth.

Gravity Falls is celebrating 10 years since it started this year, which has prompted Hirsch to share behind-the-scenes details for fans using the hashtag #10YearsOfGravityFalls Some highlights from the video include Disney finding “poopface” too similar to “shitface” and “it has come to our attention that hoo-ha is a slang term for vagina.”

Other words they weren’t comfortable with include Jeez (because it’s short for Jesus apparently), Holy Christmas, and “Scrimshawed from the tusks of Lucifer himself.” A scene with a cartoon chimp being thrown through a basketball hoop had to be referred to the Disney Animal Consultant…who probably works with real animals, we’re guessing?! Animals were clearly a sensitive sore-spot, as Hirsch also got the note “please omit the pipe in the horse’s mouth.” He responded with; “Why? Is the concern that we’ll influence horses to smoke pipes?”

It’s clear from these notes why audiences were concerned when such properties as the more adult-leaning Marvel shows came to Disney Plus. Disney now has such a stranglehold on so many different properties, including Star Wars, that there is a fear that many franchises are getting more sanitized. Disney has also received criticism for including extremely small nods to LGBTQ+ representation which can be easily cut out for foreign markets.

You can watch the hilarious video, with excellent voice-over work, in Hirsch’s tweet below;

If you’re a fan of Gravity Falls, check out our guide to the best animated series.

Fiona Underhill is a Brit based in Los Angeles. She has a BA in Drama from the University of Exeter and a PGCE in Secondary Teaching - Drama and English from the University of Warwick. She was the Editor-in-Chief of Jumpcut Online and a freelance critic with bylines at IndieWire, Nerdist, SlashFilm, and more. Fiona is Rotten Tomatoes-approved and is a member of the OAFFC. She has attended SDCC, LACC, Sundance and TIFF in person. She’s a part of the LOTR fandom and loves other fantasy series such as Shadow and Bone and Good Omens. She believes that Aziraphale and Crowley are OTP and will get a HEA.