Mean Girls is full of memorable lines, scenes, and jokes, but one subtle and brilliant one completely changes what everyone knew about the feud between Regina George (Rachel McAdams) and Janis Ian (Lizzy Caplan). In 2004, fresh off the success of Freaky Friday, director Mark Waters teamed up with Lindsay Lohan one more time in the teen comedy Mean Girls. Inspired by the book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman and with a script by Tina Fey, Mean Girls took the audience to North Shore High School as they followed naïve new girl Cady Heron (Lohan).

After being homeschooled her whole life, Cady ventured into high school without knowing how cruel high schoolers could really be. After befriending outcasts Janis and Damian (Daniel Franzese), Cady met queen bee Regina George, and so Janis, Damian, and Cady came up with a plan to bring Regina and her clique of “Plastics” down after everything she had done to them. Janis, in particular, had a personal problem with Regina that started years before the events of the movie, but one line near the end of Mean Girls reveals their feud wasn’t what viewers were led to believe.

Mean Girls Subtly Revealed Regina Misunderstood Janis’ Cultural Background

Regina’s Feud With Janis Started Very Differently

When Cady asked Janis why she hated Regina so much, Damian was about to explain what happened but Janis interrupted him, and that happened every time he tried to tell Cady. It wasn’t until Regina came across Cady while sending candy canes that Regina told her what happened between her and Janis. Regina and Janis had been best friends since they were kids, and it was implied that Janis was a Plastic as well, as her choreography for “Jingle Bell Rock” was still used by Regina, Karen, and Gretchen. However, their friendship started to crumble in the eighth grade when Regina got her first boyfriend.

According to Regina, Janis became upset that she was spending more time with her boyfriend than her, and Regina didn’t invite her to her pool party, telling Janis that it was because she thought she was a lesbian. That was the end of their friendship and the beginning of Janis’ hatred against Regina, and Janis wasn’t able to shake off the rumors about her sexual orientation. Now, near the end of Mean Girls, while Kevin danced with Janis at prom, he asked her if she was Puerto Rican, with Janis replying she was Lebanese.

TikTok user Sabrina Alease pointed this out as Mean Girls’ most iconic and subtle joke that explains exactly what happened between Regina and Janis. Regina either didn’t understand what “lebanese” is or she misheard it for “lesbian”, leading to the whole misunderstanding between them. Surely, Janis’ supposedly clingy attitude towards Regina only fed the latter’s belief about her once-best friend, but their feud might never have happened had Regina known what “lebanese” was.

Mean Girls 2024 Changed Regina & Janis’ Backstory (& Got Rid Of This Joke)

Mean Girls 2024 Made A Couple Of Changes To The Original Movie

In 2024, the Mean Girls stage musical was adapted into a teen musical comedy movie, directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. Mean Girls 2024 adapted the first movie’s story to the present year, with modern pop culture references and updated jokes. Mean Girls 2024 also made some significant changes to the original movie, including Regina and Janis’ backstory. In Mean Girls 2024, Regina and Janis were also best friends growing up, but after kissing during a spin-the-bottle game, Regina made fun of Janis behind her back with a toy Janis had given her.

In addition to that, Regina outed Janis, who, in this version of the story, truly was a lesbian. The “lebanese” part was left out of Mean Girls 2024, and so this version avoided condemning Janis’ sexuality. Regina and Janis’ backstory was still chaotic and sad in Mean Girls 2024, and removing the original movie’s joke made Regina a lot crueler.

Source: TikTok.