Birds of Prey is quite the interesting film. The movie was fairly well-received by critics and fans, even if it didn’t make a lot of money. I, for one, enjoyed it a heck of a lot — but there was a fair amount of controversy going into it. Last August, YouTube scooper Grace Randolph broke stories involving the reshoots going into Birds of Prey. According to her, these reshoots including upping the action and removing a storyline involving Black Mask’s dick pics. Yes, the MacGuffin was, in fact, dick pics. According to her, it wasn’t always just a diamond.

But that time has come and gone. We’ve been over that story repeatedly, but it’s relevant to a recent scuffle online.

The Birds of Prey Scuffle

Birds of Prey director Cathy Yan recently reached out to David Ayer on Twitter, empathizing with the filmmaker on what it’s like having your film picked apart by a studio. This was in response to Ayer’s comments that his original cut of Suicide Squad was too dark. Her response read:

“I’m so sorry this happened to you, David. I know the pain.”

I’m so sorry this happened to you, David. I know the pain. https://t.co/UOQdHcOmeN

— Cathy Yan (@CathyYan) May 31, 2020

Randolph then jumped in, quoting the tweet and using it as a platform to declare that her original scoop was, in fact, true. 

“I told u guys, massive reshoots largely to take out “dick pics” storyline & add more action via Chad Stahelski

I’m surprised Yan would jump on this bandwagon though – #BirdsOfPrey very well reviewed by critics & has a very strong fan base that vehemently defends film as is #DCEU.”

I told u guys, massive reshoots largely to take out “dick pics” storyline & add more action via Chad Stahelski

I’m surprised Yan would jump on this bandwagon though – #BirdsOfPrey very well reviewed by critics & has a very strong fan base that vehemently defends film as is #DCEU https://t.co/I3Y5QSXGYv

— Grace Randolph (@GraceRandolph) May 31, 2020

Yan replied:

“Excuse me, you have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s fascinating you would deem to try when you weren’t part of the process whatsoever.”

Excuse me, you have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s fascinating you would deem to try when you weren’t part of the process whatsoever.

— Cathy Yan (@CathyYan) May 31, 2020

RELATED – The Birds Of Prey Scene Director Cathy Yan Fought To Keep

And when Randolph clarified things, Yan responded again:

“And I thank you for the support. But let’s set the record straight: there were never dick pics. You peddling a pedophelia rumour is not journalism. Peddling any gossip is not journalism. I know. I was one.”

I’m not going to lie, this response confused me — mostly because of the pedophilia comment. Unless I missed something, there was no aspect of pedophilia in the rumor — it just revolved around a nude Ewan McGregor. Anyway, Randolph replied:

“MULTIPLE reporters confirmed that story after I reported it, said it was great & should be kept in film & didn’t like it taken out.

And dick pics aren’t pedophelia. Face with rolling eyes

Plus as a former journalist u should realize the optics of now pretending u have a suddenly better “Yan Cut”

If you’ve already heard about this story, chances are it was in the delivered in the vein of “Randolph was put in her place by Yan,” or some variation. There were several journalists and scoopers who turned very quickly on Randolph — some of whom supported the word of Randolph early on. Now, they claim Randolph is clearly wrong. But is she actually wrong?

The Extra Details

Of course, Cathy Yan was there, and she does know for a fact what happened, so it would make sense to take her word for it. I also want to throw out there that I always hate the victory lap scoopers take in order to build their credibility. It’s annoying to me whenever it’s done, and the way Randolph did it was very grating. But again, does that make her wrong? Personally, I don’t have an emotional dog in this race. I don’t personally care who was wrong.

However, if you’ll recall, we also had corroborating evidence supporting Randolph’s claim. According to a source of ours who saw two cuts of Birds of Prey, Yan isn’t telling the truth. They claim the original MacGuffin was something like the below image — except instead of a cute couple, it featured an etching of a naked Ewan McGregor featuring an uncircumcised penis.

According to our source, Yan’s tweets are “all lies,” and that “they changed the whole movie by the time it came out.” For what it’s worth, our source, who was critical of that first cut, actually enjoyed the final cut of the movie, which included extra action and the MacGuffin change.

RELATED – The Sad Reason Birds Of Prey Director Was Disappointed In The Film’s Box Office Performance

It’s also worth noting that our source doesn’t dig comic book movies. They don’t know much about this world — or even the whole filmmaking aspect of movies. As such, they have no allegiance to any particular journalist or filmmaker.

As stated above, we don’t have a dog in this race either. I know a lot of folks out there don’t like Grace Randolph for whatever reason, and I can certainly empathize with Yan’s annoyance at being told how her own production went down. However, this is just based on the information we have independently gathered. Whether or not there was any — for the lack of a better word — grace with how Randolph handled her “scoop confirmation” tweet is a different matter altogether. From we’re standing, it looks like she may be correct. 

But, as with all rumors, you must take this all with a grain of salt. Yes, we trust this source (otherwise we would not have shared it), but it is just one. You’ll have to decide who you trust, at the end of the day, knowing full well that we may never get the full answer. 

What do you think of all this Birds of Prey stuff? Let us know in the comments down below!

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SOURCE: Grace Randolph, Cathy Yan