Tim Allen soared to fame when he landed the leading role in The Santa Clause (Image: Disney)
Tim Allen has been stealing the hearts of the nation for decades as one of America’s finest comedic actors on the silver screen.
The 71-year-old actor shot to fame in the early 1990s when he landed his breakout role in the 1994 classic, The Santa Clause.
The beloved film follows toy marketing director Scott Calvin when he accidentally finds himself taking over duties as jolly Saint Nick after he startles and kills the real Santa.
The film was a knockout hit, grossing over $190million (£148million) and quickly became a Christmas classic, soon spawning a lucrative three-film franchise and a Disney+ original series.
As fans celebrate the film’s 30th anniversary, let’s take a look at the awkward deleted scene that sparked outrage amongst parents up and down the country.
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In the original film, Tim Allen makes a joke as his ex-wife Laura (played by Wendy Crewson) drops off their son Charlie on Christmas Eve. Before she leaves, Laura hands the doting dad the number for her partner Neil’s mother who lives nearby.
It’s at this point that the comic jokingly reads out the fake number “1800-SPANK-ME” which ultimately landed the company in hot water.
Following the film’s release, it was soon discovered that the number was, and still remains to be, an adult hotline. The scene in question appeared in the original theatrical release of the film and even in the initial VHS and LaserDisc runs.
An at the time revealed that hundreds of children up and down the country had been making the call to the sex line accidentally mentioned in the film.
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The company received backlash from parents over the racy joke (Image: Disney)
One grandmother complained to the outlet that her seven and nine-year-old grandchildren called the toll-free number only to be met with an older woman on the other end of the call.
She told the publication: “The children put it on the phone’s speaker system and a woman said, ‘Hi sexy. You’ve just connected to the hottest phone line in America, brought to you by American TelNet.
“Our one-of-a-kind service lets you choose your own phone fantasy” before telling callers under the age of 18 to hand up the phone. The call itself promises users “hot, wild phone fun” for as little as $2.50 (£2) a minute.
She fumed: “I don’t think children need to be exposed to that” as she called for the company to cut the scene from the film.
The article went onto quote Howard Green, a spokesman from Disney, who insisted that Allen’s comment was just a gag in the script, and that “if a real number like that exists, it’s a coincidence.”
It wasn’t until years later that Disney removed the scene from subsequent videocassette runs and future airings on the Disney Channel.
On August 29,1997, that Disney had pulled the scene and the company had even tried to buy the phone number to disconnect it.
They insist it was never included on any DVD or Blu-ray discs, nor is it available on their streaming platform Disney+.