‘Mary Poppins’ gets a new age rating in the UK over its use of a racial slur

(CNN) - The age rating for the beloved children’s classic film “Mary Poppins” has been raised by a British film industry group over discriminatory language.

“Mary Poppins” is returning to theaters in the United Kingdom this year for its 60th anniversary, so British film regulators reexamined the 1964 musical’s original rating.

Regulators chose to change the film’s rating from U for universal to PG for parental guidance because it features two uses of the term “hottentots,” a racial slur once used by white Europeans to refer to the native peoples of southern Africa.

Though “Mary Poppins” remains a highly regarded film, it has been criticized for its invocation of blackface when chimney sweeps are seen with soot-blackened faces. It’s partly in this context that the discriminatory language that sparked the age rating change appears in the film.

Due to the new rating, parents should consider whether the content might upset younger or more sensitive children, film regulators said.

In the United States, the film is rated G for general audiences.

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