Why Grease: Live! Had to Censor Some of Its Most Famous Lyrics

here were many many similarities between the 1978 film version of Grease and the one that aired on Fox Sunday night. From costumes to dance moves, the live production aped the popular John Travolta/Olivia Newton-Johnmusical in almost every scene. But longtime fans of either stage or film version may have noticed a few lyrical differences in Fox’s show. Keke Palmer’s rendition of the lesser-known “Freddy My Love” swapped “wearing my lacy lingerie” for “carrying my wedding bouquet,” then Vanessa Hudgens ended a rousing version of “Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee” with “be cool” instead of the more profane, Italian “Hey, Fongul!” But while these changes are tiny, audiences surely sat up and took notice when Aaron Tveit’s show-stopping “Grease Lightning” edited an even more famous lyric.

Executive producer Marc Platt told AdWeek that corporate sponsors like Coca-Cola forced the show to tone down some of the language. “It’s going to be a very family-friendly show, but with the appropriate edge that it needs to have,” Platt said. That’s how “Grease Lightning”’s “the chicks’ll cream” became “the chicks’ll scream,” and “she’s a really pussy wagon” became “she’s a real dream wagon.”

Viewers may have noted Coca-Cola’s advertising popping up throughout the show. “The production will include iconic Coca-Cola signage and performers will ‘taste the feeling’ of Coca-Cola on-stage during the show,” Coca-Cola vice president Katie Miller said.

There are, of course, edges to Grease that simply can’t be rounded off. Elements like Rizzo’s pregnancy scare or the fact that so much of the plot revolves around teenage sex have to stay. But in addition to some lyric changes Grease also tried to update some of its questionable gender politics. Sure, Sandy still changes her entire look/personality to get her man. But Kether Donahue’s character, Jan, who is a running fat joke in both the stage and film productions of Grease gets a bit of a body positivity make-over. When her character says she’s on a diet because the camera “adds 10 pounds,” her would-be suitor, Putzie, encourages her not to get rid of the good parts. And later his line “I also think there’s more to you than being fat” is changed to “than being weird.”

There is one questionable line that Grease: Live decided to keep. “Did she put up a fight?” the lyric from “Summer Nights” stayed in with Aaron Tveit saying, “We're trying to just have fun with it, as opposed to suggesting that it’s something darker. Hopefully, it comes through that way.”