Did a TV edit of Die Hard have McClane say "Yippie Ki Yay Melon Farmer"?
In the Die Hard film series, John McClane (Bruce Willis) repeatedly utters the phrase "Yippie Ki Yay" followed by an Oedipal profanity. Needless to say, television broadcast standards in the 1980s required such profanities to be altered before broadcast. Some of these alterations were more creative than others, leading to various running jokes in pop culture.
One lasting impression multiple people have is that McClane said "Melon Farmer" instead of the profanity. However, I have not been able to find documentation of this. I have found video of "Mister Falcon," but not "Melon Farmer." This leads me to think that "Yippie Ki Yay Melon Farmer" might just be an urban legend. However, it is very possible that at least one TV edit did indeed say "Melon Farmer."
Is there concrete evidence, beyond just "I remembered it that way" that at least one television edit of Die Hard or one of its sequels had the sentence: "Yippie Ki Yay Melon Farmer"?
Best Answer
Most TV edits of McClane's line are changed to "Yippie Ki Yay, my friend", not "melon farmer", though such an edit may exist.
But, in Die Hard With a Vengeance, Samuel L. Jackson's character (Zeus) has the same vulgar word replaced to be "You racist melon farmer!" This is probably where the idea of McClane saying it came from.
Best evidence I can find is someone mentioning this edit for a version aired on TNT in 2008: https://www.flickfilosopher.com/2008/08/you-racist-melon-farmer.html
Here's a similar tweet from 2016: https://twitter.com/scottmadin/status/744258274799685633
And for context, here's the unedited scene in question: NSFW
NSFWPictures about "Did a TV edit of Die Hard have McClane say "Yippie Ki Yay Melon Farmer"?"
Is there an edited version of Die Hard?
When the Die Hard movies run on TV, they are usually edited to remove language and excess violence. Here are a list of changes made to the theatrical release.Who said Yippee-ki-yay in Die Hard?
Throughout the films, McClane is known for his catchphrase, "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker". He frequently says it to taunt his adversaries, or in the moments before killing them. McClane adopts the phrase in the first film, Die Hard, when villain Hans Gruber calls him a cowboy and asks if he thinks he stands a chance.Who was the first to say Yippee-ki-yay?
The origin of Bruce Willis' famous phrase dates back centuries. Twenty-five years ago this week, the action movie Die Hard opened and Bruce Willis uttered that famous line.What does Yippee-ki-yay mean in Die Hard?
Actually it's a mispronounced version of the greek word "epieikeia" which means gentle or peace. He is having a nice, relaxed conversation with Hans in the first movie while setting everything up to kill him.Die Hard: Yippee Ki Yay
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Answer 2
The video of Samuel L. Jackson saying "melon farmer" in Die Hard with a Vengeance is on LiveLeak. The only version I could find on YouTube (the only embeddable video on Stack Exchange) got removed by a Hollywood studio. I remember "melon farmer" from the first time I saw the movie on television, maybe 15-20 years ago, and it's something that sticks out in your mind.
As SDH said, there are many "Mr. Falcon"-dubbed videos out there from the first movie. That's almost as good as "melon farmer," but let's be honest: nothing is as good as "melon farmer." I assume this is why "melon farmer" made the meme cut and "Mr. Falcon" placed 2nd. After exhaustive searching due to Bruce Willis being a dear friend of my television, I could not find any version of the first movie where he says "melon farmer."
The video I linked at the top only shows two instances.
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