Tragedies often affect films with untimely footage and/or marketing. Usually it’s something like 9/11, a space shuttle disaster or a sniper on the loose that causes Hollywood to show its sensitivity by delaying film releases and pulling trailers from theaters. I can’t recall a situation when the death of an individual influenced an upcoming movie’s ads or content. Last night, though, out of respect to Michael Jackson, the makers of Bruno cut a scene featuring MJ’s sister, LaToya Jackson.

I haven’t seen the film so I can’t say how the scene played out, but it is odd how PC the filmmakers are being considering the intentionally offensive tone and focus of their mockumentary. Does it even have that much connection to MJ to be viewed as being in poor taste? And anyway, won’t most of the audience for this film be over MJ’s death enough in two weeks, when the movie opens in theaters?

Check out what the film blogs are saying about the cut after the jump:

• John Horn at The Big Picture provides some detail of the scene, which does indeed reference MJ:
  

  When Cohen’s Bruno character is interviewing La Toya, he asks about Michael Jackson and then takes La Toya’s personal digital assistant and begins looking for Michael’s telephone number.

  Cohen then begins dictating some numbers in German to an assistant (the suggestion is that they are Michael’s phone number) as La Toya becomes increasingly alarmed by Cohen’s conduct…

• Steven Zeitchik and Matthew Belloni at Risky Biz Blog point out that this news puts too much spotlight on the joke anyway:
  

  Still, because many critics attended those earlier showings, its content could make its way into reviews. Indeed, removing the scene in a way calls more attention to it, though the studio clearly wanted to avoid even the perception of poor taste at any cost.

• Devin Faraci at CHUD.com had hoped that Baron Cohen would have gone the opposite and been more disrespectful towards MJ. From a post yesterday preceding the news that the scene had been cut:
  

  Will he, the biggest button pusher in our culture today, take aim at the corpse of the King of Pop?

  God I hope so. The way people get upset about the deaths of celebrities is ripe for satire. It’s insane to see folks get so swept up by the passing of someone they never met, and in this case the death of someone whose contribution to the world had become ‘creepy joke.’ Michael Jackson was a vastly talented entertainer, but the only entertainment he’s been good for the last few decades has been the kind that keeps the gossip vultures going.

• Vince Mancini at Film Drunk jokes that the filmmakers are showing weakness:
  

  Michael Jackson jokes??!! Not cool, man. When I see this scene the theater, I plan on yelling “TOO FAR!” while coughing up nacho cheese and demanding he “get back to the queer stuff.”

  UPDATE: Only a few seconds after I post this and the buzz going around is that the LaToya scene was cut from the version that premiered last night. Which was a very classy, respectful move. (*cough*) PUSSIES! (*cough, cough*). Hoo, air’s dusty today.

• Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere tried to find out if the cut is permanent but hasn’t received an answer from Universal. He also gives his opinion on the hasty and unnecessary edit:
  

  I’ve seen the scene and it’s very mild. It doesn’t slag Michael Jackson — it merely pokes at the notion of his worldwide fame. LaToya is made fun of but who cares about that? I wouldn’t cut it if I were Universal. Stick to your satirical guns, guys! Stand with Sacha and let the Jacksons eat cake. Why be extra-sensitive about a (yes) super-popular and super-talented performer who nonetheless became a Frankenstein monster who had his way with young boys?

• Anne Thompson at Thompson on Hollywood gives the impression that the scene was only cut for last night’s premiere and may be put back in later on:
  

  When the movie unspooled to a celebrity-studded crowd Thursday night at Hollywood Boulevard’s Mann’s Chinese, LaToya Jackson was not in the movie. Universal execs say they will “reassess” whether to keep the scene–they have two weeks before they will strike prints for the film’s national release.

• Neil Miller at Film School Rejects believes the scene will be included when the film opens:
  

  Since last night’s premiere, the studio has given no word as to whether or not that scene will make it into the release version of the film, but with the film releasing wide in two weeks it would be an incredibly expensive process to recut all of those prints. The real decision is whether it is worth the time, money and effort — and my guess is that the scene will end up in theaters on July 10. From what I’ve heard, the scene is in now way overly offensive in the way it deals with Michael Jackson, so I doubt that it will be a big deal in the end.

• Lane Brown at Vulture notes that the Bruno premiere was still in some way annoying to MJ fans, and he thinks we’ll have to wait for home video to see the cut scene:
  

  The premiere of Brüno in Los Angeles last night may have inconveniently red-carpeted the King of Pop’s star on the Walk of Fame, but in an unprecedented display of good taste, Sacha Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles made the easy decision to trim the movie’s Michael Jackson jokes before the screening…If we had to guess, we’d say the scene probably won’t make it to theaters, but it might be funny again on DVD.

• S.T. VanAirsdale at Movieline claims the scene is disposable enough for them to wait to add it back in only for the DVD release:
  

  It’s kind of unnecessary in context, with Brüno now going from his infamous Paula Abdul interview straight into his soon-to-be-infamous focus-group scene. Charles, meanwhile, told THR that he and the studio would revisit the material next week to see what might work for the wide release. But if I were you, I’d wait for the DVD. If there’s a textbook definition of “too soon,” this is probably it.

• Dominic Patten at TheWrap claims he got the exclusive confirmation that the LaToya part of the film had been removed permanently. But the quote he uses doesn’t necessarily say permanently, and it’s the same statement featured in other reports:
  

  “Out of respect for the Jackson family, the  filmmakers have decided to remove a small scene involving La Toya Jackson,” the spokesperson told TheWrap.

• Seth Abramovitch at Movieline presumes Bruno (and its in-character star Sacha Baron Cohen) also in turn affected the ability for Conan O’Brien to honor MJ on The Tonight Show last night:
  

  Oddly enough, no mention was made of Michael Jackson’s death in the broadcast, taped hours after the tragic news had been made official. It was likely a tough judgment call on the part of O’Brien and their producers, but it was probably the wrong one. When tragedy strikes, late shows are often the first place the public goes for expressions of communal grief. I guess they felt it was somehow inappropriate to bring the party down knowing Brüno would be on a few minutes later, puppeteering Conan into giving him a sinfully decadent nipple and crotch-rub.

Here’s a clip of Baron Cohen/Bruno’s appearance on the show: