The Russians took people out of photographs, GL took actors out in the new versions of the OT (Sebastian Shaw and Clive Revill). How is that not the same thing?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_of_images_in_the_Soviet_Union
http://www.digitalbits.com/reviews3/starwarschanges02.html
Sure, changing a movie is not as extreme as totalitarian oppression, but it is the same form of censorship.