‘Rent’ Fans Cry ‘Censorship’ With Lyric Changes in ‘Rent: Live’

Longtime fans of Rent took to Twitter to complain about the lyric changes necessary to bring the Broadway classic to network television, with some calling it censorship.

One fan compared performing Rent: Live for FOX to a Kidz Bop recording of Bruno Mars’ “That’s What I Like.”

Some fans understood why the censorship was necessary, but some lyric change did not make sense.

As the show went on and the lyric changes became more obvious, fans became very concerned over how the song “La Vie Boheme” would be changed.

“Not a fan of all the lyric changes/censorship on [Rent Live],” one viewer wrote. “I get that Fox is a broadcast network, but the people who would be offended by the original lyrics probably aren’t going to tune in, so why not issue a warning at the beginning and leave it at that?”

Rent was written by the late Jonathan Larson and is based on the opera La boheme. It centers on a group of struggling artists in Manhattan during the breakout of HIV/AIDS. The original Broadway production ran from 1996 to 2008 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Aside from the censorship, Rent: Live was hampered by the fact that it was not airing live. During Saturday’s dress rehearsal, star Brennin Hunt was injured, leaving FOX to air most of the rehearsal instead. During a statement before the first commercial break, the cast said the last act would still be performed live with Hunt. Members of the original Rent cast will also contribute to the finale.

“Last night during a live performance of FOX’s production of Rent, one of the actors, Brennin Hunt, was injured,” Fox said Sunday. “But in the spirit of Rent, everyone — producers and cast, original and current — is dedicated to ensuring that tonight’s broadcast must, and will, go on.”

Photo credit: FOX