Barbershop: No Trim, Just Sequel

MGM has delivered the unkindest cut in the ongoing flap between Civil Rights leaders and the filmmakers behind the studio's Barbershop by deciding to make absolutely no cuts to the hit comedy.

The film had been under fire from the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who asked the Barbershop brain trust to snip dialogue poking fun at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks from the upcoming DVD and video versions.

"MGM stands behind Barbershop, its filmmakers and artists, and we have no intention of altering the film in any way," the studio says in a statement.

Not only is the studio refusing to take scissors to the offending scenes, it has announced plans to work on a follow-up, as well.

No further details were immediately available on the sequel.

Barbershop, which follows the daily clips and quips of a bunch of Chicago hairdressers, and features an ensemble led by rappers Ice Cube and Eve, along with Cedric the Entertainer, has been a surprise hit for the studio, topping the box office two weeks in a row. It has grossed nearly $40 million and is crossing over into the mainstream, an unusual feat for a so-called "urban" film.

But shortly after its release, the film was buzzed by high-profile activists like Jackson and Sharpton, and Dr. King's family, because of remarks made by the film's crudest cutter, Eddie (Cedric). He belittles Parks' famous refusal to give up her seat to a white person on the bus and disses King for being a womanizer. Jackson himself took some flak in the film, garnering a profanity-laced slam from the character at the mere mention of his name.

Eddie is an equal-opportunity offender--also taking potshots at Rodney King and O.J. Simpson--and he immediately gets called out by his fellow barbers for his swipes against Parks and King.

Many of Barbershop's defenders, including Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary A. Mitchell, who is African-American, point to such free-flowing exchanges between the characters as reason enough not to censor the film.

"The beauty of Barbershop is that it peels back the curtain and lets the world eavesdrop on the conversation that black folks can have when white people aren't around," Mitchell writes. "That's the real barbershop--and beauty shop for that matter."

However, other African Americas aren't convinced. Walter Latham, who produced the successful The Original Kings of Comedy (which starred Cedric, Steve Harvey, Bernie Mac and D.L. Hughley), tells the Los Angeles Times that the controversy could harm the advancement blacks have made in show biz.

"Why are we knocking our own success?" Latham asks. "I cannot believe that finally there is this success at the box office, there is forward momentum, and the negativity is coming from the same people who are always saying we need more blacks in TV, more blacks in the movies. There's got to be a better way to criticize people."

Latham suggested that the controversy could have been handled much more amicably, with those offended by the remarks expressing their reservations privately instead of launching a media blitz.

Barbershop producers George Tillman Jr. and Robert Teitel have issued a statement saying they "did not mean to offend anyone," but did not respond to requests from the Civil Rights leaders to trim the wisecracks from future editions of the flick.

With Barbershop poised for another boffo weekend, Sharpton sent a letter to MGM requesting a meeting with filmmakers and a formal public apology from the studio. He also indicated that if their pleas for dignity are ignored, he may call for a boycott of the film.

Still, the studio isn't budging. Indeed, MGM execs are puzzled about why there's such a whirlwind over a character whose purpose in the film is to push buttons and provoke the ire of his colleagues.

"It's one fictional character in the movie who is saying that, and the 20 other people in the barbershop disagree and shout him down," Chris McGurk, vice chairman of MGM, tells the Times. "This movie is about freedom of speech in the barbershop whether it's right or wrong or indifferent."