Entertainment

David Spade’s Character in ‘The Emperor’s New Groove’ Almost Had a Very NSFW Name

Emperor Kuzco was originally called Manco until the film’s producer discovered that the name sounds like a vulgar Japanese term

Disney’s animated comedy The Emperor’s New Groove, released in December 2000, had a long, six-year journey from script to screen. Initially entitled Kingdom of the Sun, the film was intended to be a loose reworking of Mark Twain’s classic 1881 novel The Prince and the Pauper. By the time the retitled movie was finally released, many changes had been made. In fact, one of the only things that remained for most of the development process was David Spade as the lead voice actor.

Owen Wilson was attached to play the John Goodman role in the early stages, but was dropped from the production in 1999. Carla Gugino had also been in talks to play a princess at one point before the story got an overhaul. And speaking of overhauls, the film’s original ending had to be completely rewritten at the insistence of Sting, who contributed songs to the movie’s soundtrack. According to the musician, the film was supposed to end with Spade’s character demolishing a rainforest in order to build an amusement park—until Sting threatened to quit over it, saying that it conflicted with his values.

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Disney Had to Rename Kuzco in ‘The Emperor’s New Groove’ for a Very Awkward Reason

That brings us to Spade’s character, who you might know as Emperor Kuzco. Fun fact: Kuzco went by the name of Manco when the movie was first conceived years earlier. However, producer Randy Fullmer made an interesting discovery somewhere along the way: Manco sounds awfully close to a vulgar Japanese slang term that basically translates to “c—t.” While sources cite omanko as the word in question, manko appears to mean the same thing in Japanese.

But at the end of the day, if people were to have even connected the name to the word while the film was still in theaters, it probably would’ve helped its box-office returns. Though The Emperor’s New Groove was well-received, it was ultimately considered a financial disappointment. After all the changes it went through, the movie grossed just under $170 million on a $100 million budget. Surely having a character whose name means “c—t” would’ve drawn a lot more attention to it.

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