Woke culture battle goes digital as publisher tries to force censored e-books on public: ‘Artistic betrayal'

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Are woke editors coming for you?: Gutfeld

Greg Gutfeld and guests discuss how Roald Dahl’s stories, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, have become 'wokified' on ‘Gutfeld!’

The battle over woke culture and censorship of ideas has shifted into the digital and streaming world. Puffin Books, the UK publisher of famous children’s author Roald Dahl, is forcing e-book readers to accept the updated editions that have been altered by sensitivity editors, according to a recent report in the Times of London. 

Removing or altering entertainment that is seen as containing harmful ideas is also an issue in the streaming world. It’s only become more prevalent as the streaming model for viewing television and movies has largely replaced physical ownership of DVDs. 

According to the Times of London, "Owners of Roald Dahl e-books are having their libraries automatically updated with the new censored versions containing hundreds of changes to language related to weight, mental health, violence, gender and race." 

ROALD DAHL CHILDREN'S BOOKS REWRITTEN TO DELETE REFERENCES TO 'FAT' CHARACTERS, ADD 'INCLUSIVE' GENDER TERMS

Stock photo of an Amazon Kindle with a paper white screen. (Credit: Amazon) (Credit: Amazon)

The Feb. 25 story added, "Readers who bought electronic versions of the writer’s books, such as Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, before the controversial updates have discovered their copies have now been changed." 

The Times of London said of devices such as the Kindle: "Puffin Books, the company which publishes Dahl novels, updated the electronic novels, in which Augustus Gloop is no longer described as fat or Mrs Twit as fearfully ugly, on devices such as the Amazon Kindle." 

"It feels Orwellian that we are having the updated versions forced upon us and has made me weary of e-books," one reader told the outlet.

Fox News Digital reached out to Amazon, maker of the e-book Kindle, to ask about the company’s policy on this. A representative insisted the responsibility is on the publishers at Puffin: "Publishers control the copyright for the books they publish and so control the content and updating of their Kindle books." 

However, this Amazon official told Fox Digital that readers can circumvent the efforts by Puffin (and any other company that does this) to update with the new inclusive editions: "Customers who purchase Kindle books can enable or disable having a book automatically updated by visiting Automatic Book Updates on the Preferences tab." 

R.L. STINE ACCUSES PUBLISHER OF CHANGING 'GOOSEBUMPS' BOOKS WITHOUT PERMISSION: 'I'VE NEVER CHANGED A WORD'

Roald Dahl, the author of several popular works, including Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (Tony Evans, E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service)

Conservative film critic Christian Toto, host of the Hollywood in Toto podcast, was worried when he spoke to Fox News Digital.

"The latest literary news is frightening. There's been a rush to buy up physical copies of classic films and TV shows given the threat of Cancel Culture. Now, that fear extends to beloved texts," he said.

Toto pointed out that, after much backlash, Puffin announced it would keep physical print editions of the Dahl books in publication, in addition to the new inclusive versions. 

"The new, sensitive versions are an affront to the authors in question, but at least in the Dahl case both the new and existing tomes will remain," Toto said. "Tricking e-book readers into accepting the updated versions is an artistic betrayal, but it's not surprising." 

"We're now living at a time when people are being forced to accept the new woke rules. And, unless there's sizable, extended pushback, this will become the norm." 

The disappearance or alteration of media in the era of digital hasn’t been limited to e-books. As Sonny Bunch argued in a Washington Post column in 2019, the producers of The Simpsons are attempting to erase the existence of an episode that featured Michael Jackson as a voice talent. Considering the sexual abuse allegations against the late singer, the season three episode "Stark Raving Dad" has disappeared from streaming on Disney+ and from syndication. Now, the only way to view the episode anywhere is if one still has a copy of the DVD release of season three. 

Newsweek in 2020 listed multiple examples where the Disney+ streaming service edited or altered "The Lion King," "Toy Story 2" and other movies. 

Hit: DVD (1996) The DVD looked like a CD but offered many times the storage space. Success was guaranteed.

"If you don’t own a physical copy of the thing you want to watch, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to access it at any time you choose," Bunch wrote. "Your ability to access these materials depends entirely upon the whims of our corporate overlords." 

Lobbying for maintaining a DVD collection, he concluded, "An attachment to physical media remains the best defense against corporate censorship in a world where making problematic products disappear is becoming easier than ever." 

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Fox News Digital reached out to Puffin for comment on forcing e-book readers to accept the altered version of the Dahl books but did not hear back.