Star Wars fans in uproar after Disney renames inappropriate cantina music

Star Wars is a family-friendly series. In the original movies by George Lucas, there was nary a swear word to be heard, to say nothing of nudity or blood. But that’s not to say there aren’t hidden easter eggs of a more perverse nature.

One such easter egg is the name of the jazz music played by the bands in the Mos Eisley cantina and Jabba’s Palace in the original trilogy. Many a nerd has gotten their kicks from revealing to some unsuspecting friend that this genre of space jazz is actually called “jizz” in the Star Wars universe. Yup, you read that right.

According to The A.V. Club, this genre name dates back to the 1980s novelization of Return of the Jedi by James Kahn, which coined the term “jizz-wailers.” That cantina band? They’re jizz-wailers.

Alas, Disney seems to pivoting away from that name, probably because a bunch of cantina people wailing on some smooth jizz isn’t a good fit given their family-friendly public image. An excerpt from the recent Star Wars short fiction anthology From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi is making the viral rounds right now because it seemingly shows that Disney has renamed this music to “jatz.”

Needless to say, some diehard fans are unhappy with Disney for depriving them of jizz.

Is Disney renaming Star Wars‘ most inappropriate music genre?

The excerpt in question comes from the story “Fancy Man” by Phil Szostak, which is the untold tale of how the blue elephant person Max Rebo ended up joining Jabba the Hutt’s band ahead of the crimelord’s run-in with Luke Skywalker. The story refers to a genre of music called “Jatz,” noting that it “came to be known by many names, some less palatable than others, over time and across cultures.”

Before anyone gets too alarmed, The A.V. Club did exhaustive research into the origins of both jizz and jatz music. While the term “jizz-wailer” appeared in the Return of the Jedi novel in the 80s, it wasn’t until 1995’s Tales From the Mos Eisley Cantina anthology (edited by frequent Dune scribe Kevin J. Anderson) that the word “jizz” was used on its own to describe the genre. As it turns out, “jatz” appeared a couple of years earlier, in a 1993 Star Wars fiction magazine. Both jatz and jizz exist in the Star Wars universe, and are presumably two separate genres. These cantina players have range!

Thus far, only “jatz” has made the leap into Disney’s new Star Wars book canon; it was mentioned in both the From a Certain Point of View anthology and the Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade book by Delilah S. Dawson. Jizz remains a deep-cut Star Wars reference. With Disney steering the ship, it’ll probably stay that way.

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