Universal has genuinely responded to the Cats "butthole cut" rumour.

Earlier this week, Twitter user Jack Waz caused relative pandemonium on the social media site when he shared that a friend of a friend had been hired with the sole purpose of removing the 'CGI buttholes' from the film's final cut.

"His entire job was to remove CGI buttholes that had been inserted a few months before," wrote Waz. "Which means that, somewhere out there, there exists a butthole cut of Cats."

Universal

The rumour gained some serious traction, and now calls for the 'Snyder Cut' of Justice League are being drowned out by the demand for the 'Butthole Cut' of Cats.

But are the rumours true? Amazingly, Universal has actually responded to the speculation.

After being contacted by Vanity Fair, a spokesperson for the studio said it was their "favourite email of ALL TIME" but they were unfortunately unable to confirm the rumours, stating: "Hopefully that will add to the magic and mythical nature of the cinematic treasure."

A spokesperson for Mill Film, one of the VFX companies that worked on Cats, was also contacted, but they too couldn't verify the rumours, since members of the effects team signed NDAs preventing them from discussing "creative iterations which may or may not have contributed to the final product seen on-screen, or left on cutting room floors".

Universal

An anonymous Cats crew member, however, outright confirmed to writer Ben Mekler that there was never a butthole cut, but just several shots of awkwardly groomed fur that kind of resembled feline genitalia.

The anonymous crew member explained: "There were never shots of cats with butt holes. Or at least by design, None that I saw anyway. However, there were a dozen or so shots where the skin and fur sim was groomed or folded in a way that really REALLY looked like very furry lady genitals and buttholes by accident.

"The task (as typical with heavy cg shows) fell on 2D to paint out the offending articles where it was brought up and spotted. Daily reviews were constant awkward discussions of people plucking up the courage to point things like this out; 'Does that look like a fanny to you?'"

Should we take this anonymous crew member's word for it? Or shall we continue to dream that, somewhere, there's a significantly more entertaining cut of Cats waiting for us?

Cats is available to pre-order on and now.

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