Abstract
Many shows have been removed from TV channels and streaming services as they are no longer considered appropriate.
The episode features a hotel guest using racist language to refer to the West Indies cricket team. UKTV said it needed to be reviewed, and later reinstated it with a message at the start of the episode warning viewers that it contained “potentially offensive content and language”.
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CREDIT: Ryanbaker271/Wikimedia commons
This happened 17 days after the killing in the USA of George Floyd. The temporary removal of The Germans from UKTV was part of a trend on both sides of the Atlantic, with TV channels and streaming services removing episodes of programmes because they contained racist language or used blackface. More than a dozen shows streamed in the UK and the USA have had episodes prefixed with warnings or removed, or had entire series taken down, according to Index research, and at least four shows have been removed from Australian and New Zealand Netflix.
John Cleese, who played Fawlty in The Germans, was against the review of the episode, telling Australian news outlet The Age that some people “understand that if you put nonsense words into the mouth of someone you want to make fun of, you’re not broadcasting their views, you’re making fun of them”. In contrast, creators of modern shows were instrumental in episodes of their programmes being removed from streaming services.
Is “disappearing” shows that contain language and content that is now more widely deemed as offensive an appropriate and effective response, or is it censorship and an attempt to rewrite history?
Kunle Olulode, director of Voice4Change, argued that left-wing politics had “traditionally rallied against” censorship, but in terms of racist content it is something “advocates of freedom of speech and freedom of expression now have to struggle with”.
He told Index: “Whereas censorship in the past, in terms of Mary Whitehouse, has been about, I suppose, curtailing means of expression because of conservative values, today what’s different is these things are advocated as radical and liberating gestures to protect people from harm.” (Whitehouse was a British conservative activist who campaigned against what she considered to be offensive content on the BBC.)
Olulode said he believed there was a need for awareness of context and intention of racist content, highlighting HBO’s decision in June to remove 1939 film Gone With the Wind from its archive before replacing it prefixed with videos discussing its historical context. He said today’s critics had “a lack of understanding of satire”, and underestimated the intelligence of the audience.
Referring to the use of blackface in 21st-century comedy, Olulode said: “I think they are comedies and they are send-ups of social life, and race is a component of that, and it seems to me what we’re increasingly saying is that race is off limits in terms of humour.
“Part of it is certainly to do with more awareness and a growth, maybe, in terms of our political understanding, but there’s another aspect to it which is actually a bit of a closing of the mind and … an inability to be able to appreciate the ability of people to distinguish from fantasy or fiction and real life.”
Manick Govinda, a freelance arts consultant, echoed Olulode, telling Index that the public should be allowed to judge. “Streaming or broadcasting companies should treat the public intelligently, [and understand] that we are able to discern the context and content of blackfacing,” he said.
“Recent examples of blackfacing are ambiguous and no longer hold the racist messaging [that] programmes like The Black and White Minstrel Show did.”
The Disappearing Acts
LITTLE BRITAIN
A BBC spokesperson said: “There’s a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer, which we regularly review. Times have changed since Little Britain first aired so it is not currently available on BBC iPlayer.”
SCRUBS
US hospital-based comedy-drama that aired on NBC and ABC between 2001 and 2010. It stars Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke and Donald Faison as part of an ensemble cast. Three episodes of the show were removed from the streaming service at the request of the creator of the show, Bill Lawrence. The episodes in question featured actors using blackface.
Lawrence said on Braff and Faison’s podcast: “We didn’t get asked to do this. I called [Disney] up and said, ‘Hey, there’s a bunch of episodes with blackface in it and I want to get rid of them’.
“The PC cancel culture on Twitter is like, ‘Why did you pull the whole episodes? Why don’t you just edit those moments out and put them back on?’ And I said to one person, ‘It’s a pandemic. I don’t really have an editing facility up right now’. I’ll probably do that. But the first thing I wanted to do was get them off TV because it bummed me out personally.”
30 ROCK
Fey said: “As we strive to do the work and do better in regards to race in America, we believe that these episodes featuring actors in race-changing make-up are best taken out of circulation. I understand now that ‘intent’ is not a free pass for white people to use these images. I apologise for pain they have caused. Going forward, no comedy-loving kid needs to stumble on these tropes and be stung by their ugliness. I thank NBCUniversal for honouring this request.”
BO’ SELECTA!
Sketch show that aired on the UK’s Channel 4 between 2002 and 2009. It starred Leigh Francis and celebrity guests, with Francis playing the character Avid Merrion as well as impersonating celebrities, including black celebrities, by wearing rubber masks. Francis released a video in which he apologised for the use of blackface.
He said: “I’ve been talking to some people and I didn’t realise how offensive it was back then and I just want to apologise. I want to say sorry for any upset I caused whether I was Michael Jackson, Craig David or Trisha Goddard… all people who I am a big fan of. I guess we’re all on a learning journey.”
A statement from Channel 4 published by Digital Spy said: “We support Leigh in his decision to reflect on Bo’ Selecta! in light of recent events and we’ve agreed with him to remove the show from the All4 archive.”
