‘James Bond’ books revised to erase racist references

Ian Fleming's James Bond books have been reviewed by sensitivity readers.

Novels in the famed James Bond series have been edited to erase racist references, The Telegraph reported, just days after the Roald Dahl censorship row.

The changes came about after a review from sensitivity readers commissioned by the Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, who have the rights for the British author's work.

The edited books will be released in April to mark the 70th anniversary of Casino Royale -- the first James Bond book.

Among the altered excerpts is one in which Bond, the secret agent codenamed 007, says Africans are  “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought, except when they’ve drunk too much".

This has been changed to  “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought".

From another passage, the comparison of a Harlem nightclub crowd to pigs has been removed.

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Descriptions of Black people as“n*****” have been entirely removed from the books.

However, references like homosexuality is a “stubborn disability”and "blithering women" failing at "man's work" remain, The Telegraph reported.

Ian Fleming Publications told the Telegraph it followed the author's lead in changing the texts.

"We looked at the instances of several racial terms across the books and removed a number of individual words or else swapped them for terms that are more accepted today but in keeping with the period in which the books were written," the company said.

James Bond revisions are happening after a huge row over the changes to celebrated children's author Roald Dahl's books.

According to reports, Publishers Puffin altered works like The Twits and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to make characters gender neutral and remove words like "fat" and "ugly".

The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie was among those slammed the "absurd censorship" of Dahl's works by "bowdlerising sensitivity police".

"He was no angel," Rushdie said of Dahl, who supported the attack on him following the controversial novel's publication. "But this is absurd censorship. Puffin Books and the Dahl estate should be ashamed."

PEN America, a global organisation for free expression, said it was "alarmed" by the revisions.

"Amidst fierce battles against book bans and strictures on what can be taught and read, selective editing to make works of literature conform to particular sensibilities could represent a dangerous new weapon" the organisation's chief Suzanne Nossel said.

Following the backlash, Puffin announced that it would release the original versions of Dahl's books too, so readers can choose whether to read them or the altered ones.