Viral Video Sparks Debate Over Potential Toy Story F-Bomb
As with many Disney movies of the past few decades, video clips of the popular flicks have made their way onto social media platforms to highlight errors or NSFW content that might have slipped into the finished product. One video recently has gone viral on TikTok as a result of being uploaded by @kittyfeeley, seemingly showing characters from 2010’s Toy Story 3 possibly uttering the word “fuck” in one of the scenes. By listening closely, some TikTok users have deduced that Ken might either be saying “Oh f–k” or “Oh Barbie” when talking to his doll girlfriend.
However, The Digital Fix reports that while Disney is famous for including some risque moments in many of their films over the years, the Toy Story 3 sequence doesn’t appear to be one of them. The video clip posted to TikTok currently has over 36 million views and counting, with comments from both camps believing they hear the f-bomb or the line as originally intended by the toy characters. The Digital Fix believes this is due to the McGurk Effect, a phenomenon that takes place where the brain believes it is hearing something based on the written cues on the screen.
The McGurk Effect taking place in the Toy Story 3 clip on TikTok is one of the latest examples where social media users post captions on the screen to give an indication to the viewer that they should be listening for certain words. Because users are equipped with either “Oh Barbie” or “Oh f–k” as possible sayings that Ken utters in the scene, some users might hear one while some will hear the other. A similar psychological phenomenon could have been the explanation for the controversial picture of a dress from a few years back that made its way onto social media, where some people thought it looked gold and white, while others believed it was black and blue based on the phrasing of the caption on that particular post.
The TikTok clip of Toy Story 3 does recall other Disney mishaps from previous films, some of which became sensations even before the internet popularized them. For example, in The Lion King, there is a scene where Simba collapses and a cloud of dust is sent into the sky that briefly spells out “sex.” Another well-known example comes from 1989’s The Little Mermaid, where the minister marrying Ursula and Prince Eric has what appears to be a boner for a fraction of the scene.
Before it made the rounds on TikTok for possible f-bomb usage, Toy Story 3 was a theatrical phenomenon for Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios. Starring the voice talents of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Jodi Benson, and Michael Keaton; the third installment of the Toy Story franchise grossed over $1 billion at the box office against a budget of $200 million. The movie launched another sequel, Toy Story 4, that released into theaters in 2019, also grossed over $1 billion at the box office, and introduced new characters voiced by Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key.
