Tag / ridley scott

by Edward Champion

Is Amazon Censoring 2010’s ROBIN HOOD in the United States?

An eagle-eyed TikTok user noticed that the prologue text from Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood had been removed from the Amazon streaming version. I have confirmed that this is strictly an American Amazon issue and that the text is visible on other steaming platforms.

On Sunday night, TikTok user @theshannonduke0 noticed something strange when she tried to stream Ridley Scott’s 2010 cinematic version of Robin Hood on Amazon Prime. The prologue text was removed for this particular streaming version. The text reads as follows:

In times of tyranny and injustice when law oppresses the people, the outlaw takes his place in history.

On Monday morning, I confirmed on two separate devices that Amazon had indeed removed this text from the American streaming version of Robin Hood. I then rented the movie on Apple TV and noticed that the text had not been elided over there.

I have also learned from a TikTok user in Ireland that the “seditious” text appears there on Amazon without any problem. He sent me this screenshot:

Additionally, this Reddit user reports that the the text is available on Amazon Prime in the UK.

We have thus have established that the only place where this text is not available is on the American streaming version available at Amazon.

I have left phone calls and emails to Universal (the film’s distributor), Amazon, and Scott Free Productions. As of 11:00 AM Eastern time, I have not received a reply. Should I receive any comment from any party, I will update this story.

This support thread likewise contains numerous users reporting that they are not able to see the text on any device, which rules out any “technical issue” on Amazon’s end. The version of Robin Hood that Amazon is streaming in America has quite possibly been censored.

This strange and inexplicable move, for which Amazon has yet to issue a statement, is suspiciously timed, shortly after Trump announced a 100% tariff on non-American movies. (The Hollywood Reporter has noted that this idea was instigated by Jon Voight.)

If Amazon is censoring Robin Hood, are they censoring other movies that contain “anti-tyranny” text? Did Universal or director Ridley Scott authorize this? Others have speculated that this could be a technical glitch from Amazon. Until we have a solid statement from Universal, Scott Free, or Amazon, the question of the missing text remains a mystery.

DEVELOPING.

5/5/25 5:30 PM UPDATE: I was able to get in touch with Ridley Scott’s people at CAA. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said an assistant, who promptly hung up on me. As of this writing, I have not yet heard back from Universal, Scott Free, or Amazon.