Tina Fey explains why she changed multiple jokes in new Mean Girls movie

15 January 2024, 16:18

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By Katie Louise Smith

"Even if your intention was always the same, it’s just not how you do it anymore."

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The new version of Mean Girls is currently dividing the internet for a couple of reasons. One being the fact that people are apparently shocked that it's a musical, and the other is all to do with the iconic jokes that have been updated, changed, or in some cases, removed.

2024's Mean Girls, starring Reneé Rapp as Regina George, still features several of the jokes and one-liners that fans of the original know and love. Some of them are delivered in fresh new ways by the actors (Jaquel Spivey in particular brings a hilarious new take to some of Damian's famous lines), but some of them have been changed in a big way.

Now, Tina Fey has explained why she switched some of the jokes up, and how she went about changing the jokes that have "aged poorly" for new audiences.

Mean Girls writer Tina Fey explains why she changed multiple jokes in new film. Picture: Paramount Pictures

Tina, who wrote the screenplay for the 2004 and 2024 movie version of the film, as well as the book for the Mean Girls musical, spoke to The New York Times about the key changes to the jokes in the new movie.

When asked about the "jokes and story lines about race, sexuality and pedophilia" that haven't aged well, Tina said: "I was writing in the early 2000s very much based on my experience as a teen in the late ’80s. It’s come to no one’s surprise that jokes have changed."

After watching the film, fans have clocked that a handful of derogatory and offensive words have been swapped out. The insult that Janis hurls at Regina is now "scum-sucking life ruiner" instead of "scum-sucking road whore", and a couple of pages in the Burn Book are different. The iconic "Fugly Slut!" from Regina's Burn Book is now "Fugly Cow!", and Dawn Schweitzer is now labelled a "horny shrimp" instead of a "fat virgin".

Speaking about those changes, Tina said: "I know that even Regina would know what wouldn’t fly. She’s going to find a way to inflict pain on people, but she’s not going to get herself in trouble."

Mean Girls' Burn Book comments as well as some of the famous one-liners have been changed. Picture: Alamy

Explaining why another one of Regina's lines, where she makes targeted comment about Janis' sexuality in a room full of fellow students ("Oh my God, it’s her dream come true: diving into a huge pile of girls"), was removed from the new version of the film.

"It was mine and [director] Sam Jayne’s feeling that Regina wouldn’t try that now because she knows the kids around her would be like, 'That’s homophobic'," Tina said. "She would know not to be homophobic, and hopefully, truly would not be homophobic."

Similarly, the names of the North Shore High School cliques have also been changed and are no longer allocated by race as they are in the original film. ("Unfriendly Black Hotties" and "Cool Asians" were two of the cliques mentioned in the 2004 version.)

Coach Carr also does not have an inappropriate sexual relationship with one of the students.

Tina Fey reunites with Lindsay Lohan at Mean Girls premiere. Picture: Getty

"You don’t poke in the way that you used to poke," Tina continued. "Even if your intention was always the same, it’s just not how you do it anymore, which is fine. I very much believe that you can find new ways to do jokes with less accidental shrapnel sideways."

"People were really rough. People are still horrible, they’re just more likely to anonymously type it," Tina added.