AMC is being mocked for placing a “cultural stereotypes” warning on the classic 1990 Martin Scorsese mobster drama, “Goodfellas.”
Anyone tuning in to the film on the streaming service AMC+ sees the following message before the movie begins: “This film includes language and/or cultural stereotypes that are inconsistent with today’s standards of inclusion and tolerance and may offend some viewers.”
AMC provided The New York Post with a statement about the warning.
The company said they started adding this content warning four years ago. “In 2020, we began adding advisories in front of certain films that include racial or cultural references that some viewers might find offensive,” a rep for AMC wrote.
Several individuals weighed in on the warning.
Michael Franzese, a former captain of the Colombo crime family, told the outlet he didn’t agree with adding the warning. “We don’t need anyone protecting mob guys,” he told the Post. “It’s crazy.”
Former NYPD officer Bo Dietl, who played a police officer in “Goodfellas,” also disagreed with the messaging.
“The f***ing political correctness has f***ing taken everything away. This is how life was back then. It was not a clean beautiful thing. You can’t cleanse history. If you want to tell true history, you gotta tell it the way it is,” he told the outlet.
Fans noted that similar films streaming on AMC+, including “The Godfather,” did not include the same warning. That popular movie about the mob only has the more common and generic “viewer discretion” language that mentions “brief nudity, strong language, and intense violence.”
“Goodfellas” is considered one of the best mob movies ever made. Actor Joe Pesci received an Academy Award for his portrayal of the gangster Tommy DeVito. The film also features Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, and Paul Sorvino.
The United States Library of Congress classified the film “culturally significant” and added it to the National Film Registry in 2000.
Other studios are also adding content warnings to older movies. For example, Disney added disclaimers to classic films on its streaming service to warn viewers that some scenes contain “negative depictions” and “mistreatment of people or cultures.”
Classic films that had warnings added include “Dumbo” (1941), “Peter Pan” (1953), “Swiss Family Robinson” (1960), and “The Aristocats” (1970), as The Daily Wire previously reported.