“Truth be told, if we wrote it today, we’d probably be censored from all sides,” Shaiman admitted.

Marc Shaiman shares scandalous Oscars song ABC wouldn’t let Robin Williams perform

"Truth be told, if we wrote it today, we’d probably be censored from all sides," Shaiman admitted.

By Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum is a writer at covering all things pop culture – but TV is her one true love. She currently lives in Los Angeles but grew up in Chicago so please don't make fun of her accent when it slips out.

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Published on August 22, 2025 09:07PM EDT

Robin Williams at the 2005 Oscars. Credit:

Marc Shaiman is finally sharing the song he wrote for Robin Williams to perform at the 2005 Oscars that ABC deemed too scandalous.

The composer and lyricist, who is just an Oscar away from an EGOT, shared the original demo of the song they intended Williams to sing while presenting Best Animated Feature, in an Instagram post on Friday.

"The death of far-right evangelical James Dobson combined with the loss of my friend David Steinberg reminded me of an incident from 20 years ago," Shaiman wrote in the caption. "David, who managed Robin Williams, called Scott Wittman and I, explaining that Robin was set to present the Best Animated Feature at the Oscars and they thought we could write a song about how this James Dobson had recently called for a boycott of SpongeBob, claiming SB must be gay due to being part of a campaign for tolerance!"

Robin Williams and composer Marc Shaiman.

Ethan Miller/Getty; Jamie McCarthy/Getty

Shaiman and Wittman — the Tony- and Grammy-winning team behind *Hairspray* and *Some Like It Hot* — ultimately created a satirical song for Williams to perform about Dobson's "ridiculous protest." However, the network majorly pushed back on the song due to its content.

"We ran into such censorship at ABC (and truth be told, if we wrote it today, we’d probably be censored from all sides) that we pulled the song," Shaiman said. "You’re listening to my demo but you can only imagine how great it would’ve been if Robin Williams performed it with a full Choir and Orchestra. Ah well!"

Listen to the song in Shaiman's Instagram post below:

Among the tongue-in-cheek lyrics, the spoof comically alleges, "Sleeping Beauty is popping pills," "Superman is on steroids," "Chip 'n' Dale both are strippers," "Bugs Bunny's a sexaholic," "Jessica Rabbit is really a man," "Olive Oyl is anorexic, "Casper is in the Ku Klux Klan," and "Cinderella's into identity theft."

In his post, Shaiman also shared a link to an essay he wrote for ** in 2005 about the "back and forth" ordeal with the censors.**

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At the time, Shaiman wrote that he took "a bit of dramatic license" to reveal the painful vetting process with Oscars producers that ultimately led to the song getting killed. The network had issues with the song outright naming Dobson, drug use being "promoted on prime-time," the use of words including "strippers" and "sexaholic," and more.

"Where was their sense of the ridiculous?" Shaiman wrote in his EW essay. "And more importantly, who were they afraid was going to sue, Casper or the Klan?"

After a lengthy list of frustrating notes and forced changes, Shaiman and Wittman admitted defeat.

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"Unfortunately, by this point, Scott and I had also lost our sense of humor, and knowing it would be impossible to rewrite this song in a way that pleased these time travelers and ourselves, we pulled the number," Shaiman wrote. "If this silly song caused the powers that be so much grief, it boggles the mind to imagine what else is censored 'on our behalf' every day, far away from the Kodak Theatre."**

Watch Williams' alternate presentation at the 2005 Oscars above.**

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Source: “AOL Oscars”