Steven Tyler will no longer be flashing the shocker at families vacationing at Walt Disney World.
The Florida resort and theme park has apparently edited the opening segment of its Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, where fans watch digital scenes of the Boston band hard at work in the studio. Before the enclosed steel roller coaster sets off through Los Angeles to deliver fans to an Aerosmith concert, Tyler acknowledges the riders and hooks everyone up with VIP passes.
That’s apparently when he flashes what WDW News Today refers to as an “obscene hand gesture”.
That gesture has now been quietly removed from the ride.
From WDW News Today:
“Have you ever noticed that Steven Tyler’s hand in the Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster pre-show video kind of looks like something that could be considered an “obscene hand gesture”? For the sake of any younger members of our audience, I won’t write the name of it here, but you likely know what I am talking about if you have been on this attraction. Well, Disney has now digitally removed the gesture after 17 years…
It does seem kind of odd to remove it digitally 17 years later, but enough of the world has noticed it by now. From time to time I’ve ever heard guests yell out the name of the hand gesture, so I can somewhat understand Disney’s decision to keep the attraction family friendly.”
The original gesture is up top in the featured photo. Video of how it looks now is below, via Orlando NOW! on Twitter.
Tyler has yet to publicly comment on the censorship, but he does play the Wang Theatre in Boston on September 4.
Steven Tyler no longer makes the "shocker" hand gesture, now he holds up four fingers: pic.twitter.com/t9AyP5ztw2
— Orlando NOW! (@ORLNOW) August 17, 2016