‘Rush Hour’ Gets USA Trigger Warning for Being “Outdated”

Ah, yes. Trigger warnings. USA Network has reportedly added one before airings of Brett Ratner's "Rush Hour" — released in 1998, simpler times. The warning cautions viewers that some of the film's depictions, language and humor may come across as outdated or offensive today.

Complex reported — jokingly — that the warning was aimed at Gen Z, as if anyone born in 1997 or later might faint at the sight of Jackie Chan repeating a word he doesn't understand

I can't remember the last time I saw "Rush Hour," but this is all about the infamous n-word scene between Chan and Tucker: Tucker uses the word in a friendly way, Chan copies him and gets attacked for it, and it's all played for laughs. Isn't that scene essential to the film's whole thesis? Two guys from different worlds trade stereotypes until they figure out they actually like each other. Aw, shucks. Oh, and there's the "Mr. Rice-A-Roni" bit, too!

This is hardly new territory. When Disney+ launched in 2019, "Dumbo" carried a note in its description saying the program was presented as originally created and may contain "outdated cultural depictions." A year later, Disney escalated to an unskippable 12-second disclaimer acknowledging the films' harmful stereotypes and promising to learn from them.

Then came summer 2020. HBO Max temporarily pulled "Gone with the Wind" over its depiction of Black people, and in the U.K. — where they went full steroids — Sky slapped disclaimers on roughly 16 films, including "Aliens," "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "The Goonies," "Lawrence of Arabia," "Trading Places" and "Tropic Thunder." AMC also began adding advisories that year; its airing of "Goodfellas" carries a note about language and stereotypes "inconsistent with today's standards of inclusion and tolerance."

The BFI got in on it too, in 2024, warning that older James Bond films reflect "views prevalent in [their] time" that "will cause offence today.

It comes across as a lecture, as if we're too stupid to process a film, or any work of art, on our own and need to be talked down to. It's an insult to our intelligence. I watch old movies daily, and they all have outdated behavior and speech. Cultures and standards evolve; that's how people learn. Blanket warnings treat the general public like children. What triggers me more is basic cable butchering these movies with dubbed-over cursing.