A censored 'Birds of Prey' ended up on HBO Max by mistake
Harley Quinn has not been censored.
Well, kind of. An edited broadcast cable version of Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) was "mistakenly" uploaded to HBO Max, causing outcry among fans on Twitter about changing the film and setting a bizarre precedent. A Warner Bros. spokesperson confirmed with IGN that this was an accident and the original will return.
How can you tell if a show or movie has been edited on HBO Max? It's not exactly hidden — over the holiday, HBO Max users who booted up Birds of Prey were immediately greeted by a disclaimer: "This film has been modified as follows from its original version: it has been edited for content."
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ComicBook.com notes that this has happened with other movies and streamers, such as with a TV edit of Back to the Future II that made it to Netflix. That can at least be a comfort as we wait for our R-rated chaos queen to come home. And if you really can't wait, just go watch the excellent Harley Quinn animated series. It's also on HBO Max and it's definitely not censored.
Birds of Prey (the edited version, at time of publication) is streaming on HBO max.
Proma Khosla is a Senior Entertainment Reporter writing about all things TV, from ranking Bridgerton crushes to composer interviews and leading Mashable's stateside coverage of Bollywood and South Asian representation. You might also catch her hosting video explainers or on Mashable's TikTok and Reels, or tweeting silly thoughts from @promawhatup.
