Channel 5 axes Mickey Rooney role from Breakfast At Tiffany’s
IT IS a double Oscar-winning classic of American cinema that defined Audrey Hepburn’s reputation as a screen icon.
But now Breakfast At Tiffany’s is at the centre of a censorship row after Channel 5 cut every scene featuring co-star Mickey Rooney.
His portrayal of Japanese character Mr Yunioshi has long been condemned as racist, but critics say the decision to consign the entire role to the cuttingroom floor is a ‘dangerous’ rewriting of history.
Rooney wore ‘yellowface’ make-up and buck teeth, taped his eyes and delivered the lines in an exaggerated accent for the role of landlord to Hepburn’s Holly Golightly. It was considered a crude caricature even at the time of the film’s 1961 release. Broadcasters have in recent years slapped a content warning on the film.
Monty Python star turned film director Terry Gilliam criticised the decision.
‘To remove scenes of characters from films that have already survived the critical eye of past official censors seems absurd and dangerous,’ he said.
Hepburn’s son, film producer Sean Hepburn Ferrer, said: ‘You have to look at it from the perspective of people then. That is the big problem today. Everything is looked at within the scope of one lifetime... as if we were the most important point in the story.’