'The Kardashians' Showrunner Says She Too Is "Questioning" Why Swear Words Are Censored (EXCLUSIVE)
May 11 2022, Updated 1:12 p.m. ET
The Kardashian-Jenner family.
The Kardashian-Jenner family got the chance to embrace reality TV once again when The Kardashians premiered on Hulu. But what some fans are confused about is why swear words on The Kardashians are censored.
It's not the most important thing about the new series, but with the show on a streaming platform and off E! (where the family priorly shared their lives with the public for years), viewers are curious why some words are bleeped out.
Most four-letter words on The Kardashians are censored, though it's easy to understand what each cast member is saying given the context of different conversations. When Keeping Up With the Kardashians was on E!, it made sense to censor swear words.
E! is a cable network, but the shows that air on it are still expected to be somewhat censored for primetime television. Fans assumed Hulu would be a different ball game.
Kris Jenner, Khloé Kardashian, and Kim Kardashian.
Why is 'The Kardashians' censored on Hulu?
If you've watched the first couple of episodes of the Kardashian-Jenner family's new reality show on Hulu, you might have noticed that some swear words are bleeped out, while others aren't. We have yet to hear a clear f-bomb from any of the moguls, but the beeping seemingly has nothing to do with Hulu.
When news broke of The Kardashians coming to the streaming platform, Variety reported that the family chose to work with production company Fulwell 73. The company, which is behind other big shows like Carpool Karaoke: The Series, also produced the 2022 Grammys.
It's possible that Fulwell 73 chooses to edit reality shows without swear words in order to appeal to a wider audience. But there could also be another reason for the censored curse words.
Distractify spoke exclusively with The Kardashians showrunner Danielle King, who was also curious about the censored language in the Hulu series.
"I was questioning that too, and I was I was a little surprised by that," she admitted. "I thought moving to streaming [would be different]. I was a little surprised that... we had to be so conservative. But it dawned on me that Hulu is owned by, you know, Disney, so I guess that's the connection."
When someone tweeted at Hulu in 2020 regarding Horrible Bosses 2 and the fact that the movie's profanity was censored on the streaming service, the official Hulu account offered an explanation.
"Sorry for any trouble! We don't censor content on our end, but it's possible the content you're watching was already censored when it was provided to us by our content partners," Hulu tweeted back. "We'll be happy to share your feedback on this with the proper parties."
The censorship on 'The Kardashians' might also have to do with ads.
For those who subscribe to Hulu with ads, episodes of The Kardashians are broken up to allow for commercials. And often, when a company agrees to air an ad during a particular TV show, it's because the content aligns with its values.
That's not to say that saying the f-word on The Kardashians would be the end of the world. However, it might change the TV rating for the show, thereby lowering the number of advertisers who would want to air commercials during The Kardashians.
Right now, the show is rated TV-14. For R-rated movies and anything above TV-14 on television, multiple f-bombs are allowed. So for a TV-14 show to feature more than one would mean The Kardashians would have to be rated TV-MA.
At this point, it seems easier to censor the more offensive swear words and keep the show appropriate for most viewers and a larger audience overall.
Watch new episodes of The Kardashians on Thursdays on Hulu.
