In the world of children’s books, some authors stand out. One of them has to be the infamous Roald Dahl. As small children, we can all remember reading his works such as Matilda and James and The Giant Peach. Long after his passing, Dahl continues to live through his words. Some of his books have even earned their own movies. Recently, the publisher of Dahl’s writings, Puffin announced some of the latest changes they are making to his publishing. NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar reacted to the news and isn’t a big supporter of the updates.

Dahl wrote his books back late in the 1900s. The cultures and practices far differ from those of the modern day. Several of his wordings today are frowned upon. For example, he describes Augustus Gloop in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ as “fat”. With today’s body shaming and other ill practices, Puffin feels they can’t endorse such descriptions. Hence, to avoid forwarding such teachings to the younger generation, they announced certain replacements.

However, Abdul-Jabbar feels altering the texts of a writer even though they might be offensive in the modern language is wrong.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar against changing words in Roald Dahl’s books

The six-time MVP issued a new edition on his Substack. The 75-year-old went into the recent reports released by Puffin. According to him, movie adaptations can be made child-friendly, but the books should remain untouched. The Los Angeles Lakers also feel these changes aren’t small as the publication claims to be. To Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, altering the works of a writer is a practice he can’t support.

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The Hall of Famer wrote in his Substack, “I’m not a fan of messing with an author’s original text, even when that text might be offensive to modern sensibilities. I would rather that those texts come with some explanation to put it into historical context, as Disney has done with its more problematic older movies.”

Surprisingly, Abdul-Jabbar believes the real motive behind this isn’t to protect children but to print money. He goes into the works of Dahl, who he calls “a notorious racist and antisemite”. The Lakers icon feels several of his books were mean-spirited. In order to protect the children, he feels such books shouldn’t be promoted in the first place.

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His solution to the problem is to put forward books that are suitable for the younger generation. However, he strictly abstains from altering the words of a writer. He feels it is putting “words in another author’s mouth without their permission.” 

In the past, even the BBC pointed out Dahl’s controversial tone in some of his most popular books. The emotion of the writer comes through his original words. Altering the very feeling might not translate the message he truly wanted to send. Given the dark history, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar doesn’t seem wrong in suggesting pushing for other books.

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Do you support the six-time MVP? Let us know your views in the comments below.