Scarecrow Prince

Why did they take out Fiyero being called derogatory words

That’s the kinder interpretation of what happened, anyway. The other – and sadly just as possible – reason is that including all the other racial themes from the book (those that aren’t already addressed by Elphaba’s verdigris, that is) would demand Fiyero be played by a man of color, and I’m sad to say that even in the year of our Lurline 2003 the musical theater community would be hesitant to do this, because 1) With an actual person of color in the role and not just Elphaba’s improbable condition, it becomes much harder for audiences to ignore the message of the story once it no longer depends on Fantastical Racism; don’t wanna risk offending them casual racists or make them think about the real world, oh no… and 2) Regardless of the fact that Elphaba is green and keeping in mind that for the overwhelming majority of the musical’s existence she’s been played by white actresses, a book accurate Fiyero would mean the main pair of a huge Broadway play being a interracial couple, and uh… let’s say that besides homophobes ignoring the romantic subtext (and oftentimes just text) between Elphaba and Glinda, we’d have racists trying to argue that Elphaba and Fiyero “make more sense as friends” and there would be entire think pieces on why As Long As You’re Mine is “too inappropriate” for a family musical or that it’s “secretly about platonic bonds”.

*puts a dandelion in your hair*