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Time for a cleanup of 'racist' TV shows & Movies too?

MenInG

MenInG

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'Gone with the Wind' removed from HBO Max after racism protests

"Gone with the Wind" has been removed from the HBO Max streaming platform, as mass protests against racism and police brutality prompt television networks to reassess their offerings.

The multiple Oscar-winning US Civil War epic released in 1939 remains the highest-grossing movie of all time adjusted for inflation, but its depiction of contented slaves and heroic slaveholders has garnered criticism.

"'Gone With The Wind' is a product of its time and depicts some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that have, unfortunately, been commonplace in American society," an HBO Max spokesperson said in a statement to AFP.

"These racist depictions were wrong then and are wrong today, and we felt that to keep this title up without an explanation and a denouncement of those depictions would be irresponsible."
 
Would 'Mind your language' be also considered as racist? or was it simply politically incorrect!
 
These are products of their time and should still be watched. This isn’t right in my opinion
 
MenInG said:
Would 'Mind your language' be also considered as racist? or was it simply politically incorrect!
Click to expand...

it ain't half hot mum?

Faulty Towers?

Love thy neighbour?

Till Death do us Part?

Rising Damp?
 
They better not target the movies! Leave movies alone.

Some "racist" movies come to my mind:

Mudbound
The Hateful Eight
Django Unchained.
 
MenInG said:
Racist vs politically correct?
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Movies like Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight have racist scenes (N word, treating blacks like commodities, torturing black women etc.).

I hope these movies will not be disrupted. Django Unchained was a classic.
 
sweep_shot said:
They better not target the movies! Leave movies alone.

Some "racist" movies come to my mind:

Mudbound
The Hateful Eight
Django Unchained.
Click to expand...

Those movies are not racist. The argument here is against actual racist movies that were simply products of their time. Movies that normalize racism. Not movies that simply contain racism
 
Gone with the Wind is one of the all time great classic movies. So what if blacks were depicted as nincompoops, that was how they were viewed at the time. There was no such concept as racism back then, or if there was, it was considered favourably.

I am quite able to watch all the 70's and 80's British sitcoms which are now considered racist, they are a reflection of the past. I don't want it whitewashed - pun intended.

Actually they are far more honest than the insidious stuff like Citizen Khan of current times where the racism is hidden more cleverly.
 
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US reality TV show Cops has been dropped from its network and Gone With The Wind has also been temporarily removed by a streaming service as demonstrations against racism and police violence continue around the world.
 
Cpt. Rishwat said:
Gone with the Wind is one of the all time great classic movies. So what if blacks were depicted as nincompoops, that was how they were viewed at the time. There was no such concept as racism back then, or if there was, it was considered favourably.

I am quite able to watch all the 70's and 80's British sitcoms which are now considered racist, they are a reflection of the past. I don't want it whitewashed - pun intended.

Actually they are far more honest than the insidious stuff like Citizen Khan of current times where the racism is hidden more cleverly.
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Came here to say Gone with the wind, take it down and in the post above streaming service removed it lol
 
I don’t think they should remove movies based on how racism is viewed in society. These are made for entertainment, they have nothing do with changing ones prospective of society. People should focus on real life issues and not what happens in entertainment.
 
This whole debate is a pointless and it shows that these people have no idea what they want. If for example you take these TV shows off the air, will it make the life of a single black person better in any way, no is the simple answer. So the question that should be asked is what practical steps can be taken to help the poorer black communities, I would start by training and education, both of these will people to get better paid jobs, this will then have an impact on the crime rates. If the crime comes down, the Police and black peoples interaction will be similar to most communities.
 
You can’t clean up history. If a movie in the 50s was racist it reflected the view points of that time.

So what next? Objectification of women, that would be 90% of commercial cinema all over the world, in appropriate comments or stereotype portrayals of minorities like Indians,Muslims, Chinese,Latinos etc etc.

This is overreaction and dumb
 
aliasad1998 said:
These are products of their time and should still be watched. This isn’t right in my opinion
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How is that different from statues? Gone with the win has 8 Academy awards as well, should that be ripped up as well?

Although Hattie Mcdaniel became first African American to win the academy for that movie lol.
 
JaDed said:
How is that different from statues? Gone with the win has 8 Academy awards as well, should that be ripped up as well?

Although Hattie Mcdaniel became first African American to win the academy for that movie lol.
Click to expand...

What exactly are you disagreeing with. I said taking them down is wrong
 
The first American motion picture, “Birth of A Nation” in 1915, led to a revival of the KKK.

Check out its plot line and you’ll find out why.
 
Some of the Sean Connery James Bond movies won’t pass.

This could actually be a complete wipe out of Bollywood movies pre 2010
 
Rana said:
Some of the Sean Connery James Bond movies won’t pass.

This could actually be a complete wipe out of Bollywood movies pre 2010
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Nope, exaggeration once again. Many of the earlier Indian movies were made by socialists and communists , if anything it was complete opposite of 90's.
 
Ant and Dec have apologised for appearing in blackface on old episodes of their show Saturday Night Takeaway.

The duo concealed their real identities with darker make-up and prosthetics in order to pull pranks on famous people.

In a statement on Wednesday, they said they were "sincerely sorry" and had requested ITV remove the 2003 and 2004 sketches from its catch-up service.

Their apology follows widespread Black Lives Matter protests, in the US and the UK, over the death of George Floyd.
 
The TV Shows and Movies should be kept there as a reminder of how certain types of racism were considered normal in the past, but are wrong and therefore considered incorrect today.

Removing all these movies and whatnot is like erasing that part of history, pretending it didn't exist and saying we all stand on equal foothold. Instead we should work towards standing equally today but acknowledging that wasn't the case yesterday to educate future generations.

This re-writing of history isn't helping.
 
Netflix drops The Mighty Boosh and The League Of Gentlemen after blackface criticism

The Mighty Boosh and The League Of Gentlemen have become the latest shows to be dropped by streaming platforms following criticism over the use of blackface.

Netflix confirmed to Sky News that it has taken down both of the comedy shows.

NOW TV said The Mighty Boosh was not available on the platform, and The League Of Gentlemen has been removed from the service and also from Sky.

The characters that have been questioned are the Mighty Boosh's Spirit of Jazz and The League Of Gentlemen's Papa Lazarou.

Earlier this week, with Black Lives Matter demonstrations taking place around the world following the death of George Floyd in the US, it emerged that Little Britain had been removed from streaming sites after coming under fire for its portrayal of black and Asian characters by white stars David Walliams and Matt Lucas.

This included from BBC iPlayer; however, a BBC spokesman said this decision only affected Little Britain and not The Mighty Boosh and The League Of Gentlemen.

Several celebrities have made apologies for previous behaviour on screen as Black Lives Matter demonstrations have gathered momentum, with Ant and Dec releasing a statement on Wednesday about Saturday Night Take Away sketches in which they darkened their skin and wore prosthetics.

In a statement on Twitter, the pair wrote: "During past episodes of Saturday Night Takeaway we impersonated people of colour in the undercover segment of the show.

"We realise that this was wrong and want to say that we are sincerely sorry to everyone that we offended.

"We purposely stopped doing this several years ago and certainly would not make these sketches today."

The episodes have disappeared from ITV's online catch-up service.

Debate around films and TV shows and their depictions of race is growing as more shows are removed from streaming platforms and more celebrities issue apologies.

Comedian Leigh Francis has apologised for "offensive" portrayals of celebrities including Craig David, Michael Jackson and Trisha Goddard on sketch show Bo' Selecta, which first aired in 2002.

However, former England footballer John Barnes, who experienced incidents of racism during his career, defended Francis' caricatures, saying they were not about race and "not a negative representation of black people".

"He was being particular about those particular people," Barnes told Sky News' Sophy Ridge.

"He did Elton John - are gay people going to be upset because he did a gay man?

"If he did a generic black man, like what blackface is... and saying, 'here's a black man, talking rubbish' then I could understand that, but not if you're talking about a specific person."

In the US, reality TV show Cops has been dropped by its network Paramount and 1939 film Gone With The Wind has been temporarily removed by HBO's new streaming service because it includes "racist depictions".

Late night TV host Jimmy Fallon has also apologised for wearing blackface during a Saturday Night Live (SNL) sketch 20 years ago.

Protests have taken place across the globe following the killing of Mr Floyd in Minneapolis on 25 May.

The 46-year-old, an unarmed black man, was killed after white police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes as Mr Floyd pleaded that he could not breathe.
https://news.sky.com/story/netflix-...-gentlemen-after-blackface-criticism-12004711
 
Black Lives Matter: The shows pulled by broadcasters and streaming services

The removal of several TV shows from catch-up and streaming platforms has brought the debate about depictions of race on screen to the fore.

In the US, HBO Max has pulled Gone With The Wind over "racist depictions" that were "wrong then and are wrong today" - but says the 1939 film will eventually return with a discussion of its historical context.

However, many TV shows are being removed completely, with some arguing this is tokenistic and does little to actually combat systemic racism.

Here are the shows that have been pulled or had certain episodes removed by some broadcasters and streaming services, and the characters that have been called into question as Black Lives Matter demonstrations continue.

Little Britain

Starring David Walliams and Matt Lucas, Little Britain has long been criticised for its portrayal of black and Asian characters by the white comedians, as well as gay characters and those with disabilities.

They include an obese Caribbean woman called Desiree, for which Walliams wore blackface, and a mail-order bride named Ting Tong. More famous characters included Daffyd, "the only gay in the village", and Lou and Andy, the latter of whom was in a wheelchair.

The show has now been removed from Netflix, NOW TV, Britbox and BBC iPlayer.

A BBC spokesperson said it had made the decision to remove the show as "times have changed" since the comedy first aired in 2003.

Walliams and Lucas's other series, Come Fly With Me, which also featured blackface, has also been removed.

The stars have both said previously that they would make Little Britain differently today.

The Mighty Boosh

Surreal comedy series The Mighty Boosh, starring Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt, ran for three series between 2004 and 2007.

The character that has come into question is the Spirit of Jazz, the ghost of fictional jazz musician Howlin' Jimmy Jefferson, and was played by Fielding in blackface.

Netflix has removed the show and Sky has also pulled it from its catch-up service.

However, the BBC has kept the show on iPlayer.

The League Of Gentlemen

The League of Gentlemen, which aired on the BBC between 1999 and 2002, starred Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, and Reece Shearsmith as a series of bizarre characters in the fictional northern town of Royston Vasey.

One character played by Shearsmith, Papa Lazarou, wore blackface.

In an interview with The Independent earlier this year, Shearsmith said "it was not me doing a black man. It was always this clown-like make-up and we just came up with what we thought was the scariest idea to have in a sort of Child Catcher-like way."

He said he did not think the programme had had complaints made at the time.

Netflix, NOW TV and Sky have all removed the series, although the BBC has kept the show on iPlayer.

Bo Selecta

Airing between 2002 and 2004, with a number of spin-offs, Bo Selecta saw comedian Leigh Francis wearing latex face masks to impersonate celebrities including Elton John and the Osbournes.

His most famous characters included Michael Jackson and Craig David, and the star issued an apology for these depictions earlier this month.

Referring to his time on the Channel 4 series, Francis said: "I portrayed many black people. Back then I didn't think anything about it, people didn't say anything, I'm not going to blame other people.

"I've been talking to some people and I didn't realise how offensive it was back then. And I just wanna apologise and, you know, say sorry for any upset I caused."

The show has been removed from Channel 4's catch-up and streaming service, All 4, with a spokesperson for the channel saying: "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 All 4 archive."

However, football star John Barnes, who experienced racism throughout his career, is among those who have defended Bo Selecta, saying the impersonations may have been offensive to individuals, but were not racist.

Saturday Night Takeaway

In their Saturday night variety show, which launched in 2002, TV presenting duo Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly would often disguise themselves for "undercover" sketches in which they pranked famous faces.

They wore blackface in 2003, dressing up as two fictional Jamaican women, Patty and Bernice, to prank Emmerdale cast members.

In 2004, they dressed up as two Japanese girls, Suki and Keiko, using make-up and exaggerated accents.

The episodes have disappeared from ITV's online catch-up service, with Ant and Dec, both 44, confirming that they had "already taken steps to ensure the footage was taken down".

In a statement on Twitter, the pair wrote: "During past episodes of Saturday Night Takeaway we impersonated people of colour in the undercover segment of the show.

"We realise that this was wrong and want to say that we are sincerely sorry to everyone that we offended.

"We purposely stopped doing this several years ago and certainly would not make these sketches today."

Cops

Long-running US reality TV show Cops launched in 1989, allowing viewers to rise along with police officers on patrol in various cities across the US.

With the reggae song Bad Boys as its theme tune, it has come under fire in the past for glorifying police aggression.

As the issue of systemic police racism in the US was brought into the spotlight following the death of George Floyd, the Paramount Network removed the show temporarily from air at the end of May.

The move has since been made permanent, with no plans for the show to come back.

A spokesperson for Paramount said: "Cops is not on the Paramount Network and we don't have any current or future plans for it to return."

Angry Boys, Summer Heights High, We Can Be Heroes and Jonah From Tonga

Australian comedian Chris Lilley has seen four of his shows pulled by Netflix over their use of blackface.

Angry Boys features blackface character S.mouse, while Summer Heights High and Jonah From Tonga feature the character of Jonah Takalua, for which Lilley wore brown make-up.

In We Can Be Heroes, Lilley plays Chinese physics student Ricky Wong.
https://news.sky.com/story/black-li...-broadcasters-and-streaming-services-12004775
 
sweep_shot said:
They better not target the movies! Leave movies alone.

Some "racist" movies come to my mind:

Mudbound
The Hateful Eight
Django Unchained.
Click to expand...

aliasad1998 said:
Those movies are not racist. The argument here is against actual racist movies that were simply products of their time. Movies that normalize racism. Not movies that simply contain racism
Click to expand...

I've see Django Unchained out of those and agree it's against racism as a sort of sattire because its a fairly recent movie and if was considered racist wouldn't have got past the censor boards.

The N word is used but that wasn't to make the film racist.
 
its stupid to try to forget part of our history just because its uncomfortable . Most they should've done is put a disclaimer on the movie saying how its wrong but can't run from our history.
 
Time to search through this forum for old racist posts and burn them!
 
One of the most famous episodes of 1970s sitcom Fawlty Towers has been removed from a streaming service because it has "racial slurs".

UKTV, which is BBC-owned, said it had temporarily made Fawlty Towers episode The Germans unavailable while it carries out a review.

The episode, first aired in 1975, showed hotel owner Basil Fawlty, played by John Cleese, goose-stepping while shouting "don't mention the war" in front of a group of German tourists.

It also has scenes where Major Gowen uses offensive language when talking about the West Indies cricket team which had already been cut by some broadcasters, according to reports.

A UKTV spokesman said: "UKTV has temporarily removed an episode of Fawlty Towers, The Germans, from Gold's Box Set.

"The episode contains racial slurs so we are taking the episode down while we review it. We regularly review older content to ensure it meets audience expectations and are particularly aware of the impact of outdated language.

"Some shows carry warnings and others are edited. We want to take time to consider our options for this episode."

HBO Max has temporarily removed 1939 civil war epic Gone With The Wind because of its "racial depictions" and iPlayer removed Little Britain following complaints about the use of blackface in some of its sketches.

It comes amid protests led by the Black Lives Matter movement which began in the US but have spread around the world.

The protests were prompted by the death of George Floyd, a black man killed when a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.

https://news.sky.com/story/fawlty-t...treaming-service-due-to-racial-slurs-12005118
 
This whole thing is turning into a farce. A real issue that could make a real difference to the lives of the poor communities, is being turned into a pointless crock of ****. The BLM need to ask for concrete proposals to help oppressed communities deal with daily violence black people face from criminals, children being groomed into drug gangs, terrible schools which the parents show no interest in helping, the lack of quality apprenticeships.
 
I wonder when these revolutionists and white knights will chess. It is a racist game because the white always moves first.
 
Mamoon said:
Learned at a very young age but haven’t played in ages. Would love to play regularly though.

I last played in 2010 I think.
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You must be pretty rusty. I started a year ago; very fun but can’t do anything productive after an intense game.

It really is mental torture.
 
While I love chess, I've always felt guilty about how it reinforces hackneyed class constructs from the feudal era. The only redeeming feature is how powerful the queen is.

Checkers is much more egalitarian: every piece starts equal, and you can be king through the sheer hard work of making it to the other end, after fighting your way through enemy territory.
 
MenInG said:
Would 'Mind your language' be also considered as racist? or was it simply politically incorrect!
Click to expand...

One of the best ever shows. Still watch it every now and then. Reminds me of how life was full of joy even at the most simplest and innocent human mistake in language.

Society has forgotton how to have fun.
 
I agree with such moves.

Movies, shows are used as brainwashing with their racist profiling of characters, blacks are often portrayed as lazy, criminals, Arabs as extremists, terrorists, etc.

There are many movies and shows to choose from, no big loss to civilisation.
 
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Tom and Jerry yet. While it was a big part of my childhood, it can't be denied that it was replete with blatant racist tropes. The mammy stereotype of the black domestic help, whose face we never get to see; something blowing up and burning Tom so that he looks like he's in blackface; that episode where he wooed a female cat dressed in a 40's Zoot suit, and several others.
 
Nostalgic said:
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Tom and Jerry yet. While it was a big part of my childhood, it can't be denied that it was replete with blatant racist tropes. The mammy stereotype of the black domestic help, whose face we never get to see; something blowing up and burning Tom so that he looks like he's in blackface; that episode where he wooed a female cat dressed in a 40's Zoot suit, and several others.
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I have no sympathy for Tom or his owner. Jerry never deserved such horrible treatment.

Wish there was an episode where Spike eats Tom or even better his little son, whose name I cant remember.
 
I remember this episode: the Major describes going to a cricket match and how his then-girlfriend repeatedly used the N-word for the opposition, who were from the Humsaaya Mulk, mistaking them for the West Indians. The Major then corrected her... using the "correct" racist term.

Fawlty Towers: John Cleese attacks 'cowardly' BBC over episode's removal

John Cleese has laid into the "cowardly and gutless and contemptible" BBC after an episode of Fawlty Towers was removed from a BBC-owned streaming platform.

A 1975 episode titled The Germans was taken off UKTV's streaming service because it contains "racial slurs".

In it, the Major uses highly offensive language, and Cleese's Basil Fawlty declares "don't mention the war".

Cleese wrote on Twitter: "The BBC is now run by a mixture of marketing people and petty bureaucrats."

He added: "I would have hoped that someone at the BBC would understand that there are two ways of making fun of human behaviour.

"One is to attack it directly. The other is to have someone who is patently a figure of fun, speak up on behalf of that behaviour."

He went on to compare the situation with that of Alf Garnett, the racist character in sitcoms Till Death Us Do Part and In Sickness and in Health.

"We laughed at Alf's reactionary views. Thus we discredited them, by laughing at him," Cleese wrote.

"Of course, there were people - very stupid people - who said 'Thank God someone is saying these things at last'. We laughed at these people too. Now they're taking decisions about BBC comedy."

He continued: "But it's not just stupidity. The BBC is now run by a mixture of marketing people and petty bureaucrats. It used to have a large sprinkling of people who'd actually made programmes. Not any more.

"So BBC decisions are made by persons whose main concern is not losing their jobs... That's why they're so cowardly and gutless and contemptible. I rest my case."

'Audience expectations'
UKTV also operates channels including Gold, and many of its channels and its digital player were taken over by the BBC's commercial arm BBC Studios last year. A BBC spokesman declined to comment.

A UKTV spokesman said: "UKTV has temporarily removed an episode of Fawlty Towers The Germans from Gold's Box Set.

"The episode contains racial slurs so we are taking the episode down while we review it. We regularly review older content to ensure it meets audience expectations and are particularly aware of the impact of outdated language.

"Some shows carry warnings and others are edited. We want to take time to consider our options for this episode."

The Germans is still available to view on Britbox, which is part-owned by the BBC, with a message saying it "contains some offensive racial language of the time and upsetting scenes". It is also on Netflix, carrying a warning about "language, [and] discrimination".

Journalist and broadcaster Carl Anka described the removal as "a waste of time", noting many people would prefer it if UKTV and other companies simply "committed to hiring black creatives" instead.

In 2013, it was reported that Cleese agreed for the offending lines to be edited out when it was repeated on TV.

"We are very proud of Fawlty Towers and its contribution to British television comedy," a BBC spokesman told the Daily Mail at the time.

"But public attitudes have changed significantly since it was made and it was decided to make some minor changes, with the consent of John Cleese's management, to allow the episode to transmit to a family audience at 7.30pm on BBC Two."

Comedy controversies
This week, many channels and comedy figures have been making moves to reassess what is acceptable in today's society, following mass Black Lives Matter protests after the death of George Floyd.

HBO Max temporarily removed Gone With The Wind because of its "racial depictions", and Little Britain was removed from the BBC iPlayer and Britbox because "times have changed".

Netflix has also removed Little Britain plus David Walliams and Matt Lucas's Come Fly With Me, and The League of Gentlemen and The Mighty Boosh.

Meanwhile, Ant and Dec apologised for impersonating "people of colour" on Saturday Night Takeaway, and requested ITV remove the 2003 and 2004 sketches from its catch-up service.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainm...t_and_arts&link_location=live-reporting-story
 
KingKhanWC said:
I have no sympathy for Tom or his owner. Jerry never deserved such horrible treatment.

Wish there was an episode where Spike eats Tom or even better his little son, whose name I cant remember.
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As a cat parent, I was secretly rooting for Tom. Mice are vermin and deserve extermination.
 
Nostalgic said:
As a cat parent, I was secretly rooting for Tom. Mice are vermin and deserve extermination.
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I hope your cat is a little smarter and doesnt attack other species with different skin tones. MLM!

I also recall Daffy Duck in a Nazi episode, pretty scary.
 
KingKhanWC said:
I hope your cat is a little smarter and doesnt attack other species with different skin tones. MLM!

I also recall Daffy Duck in a Nazi episode, pretty scary.
Click to expand...

My cat is a tuxedo: black and white, so can't be accused of racism.
 
Nostalgic said:
As a cat parent, I was secretly rooting for Tom. Mice are vermin and deserve extermination.
Click to expand...

Used to feel sorry for Tom. All that effort for nothing.

I hate modern day hadharam cats. What is their use if one must setup kurukis himself ?
 
Nostalgic said:
As a cat parent, I was secretly rooting for Tom. Mice are vermin and deserve extermination.
Click to expand...

I don’t know anyone who rooted for Jerry.

He was a devious little mouse with ridiculous plot armor. Tom had a good heart.
 
Greenstorm said:
Used to feel sorry for Tom. All that effort for nothing.

I hate modern day hadharam cats. What is their use if one must setup kurukis himself ?
Click to expand...

All that effort for no reward, and no appreciation either from thankless viewers who probably never had to endure a rodent infestation.
 
Mamoon said:
I don’t know anyone who rooted for Jerry.

He was a devious little mouse with ridiculous plot armor. Tom had a good heart.
Click to expand...

At first glance I thought you were bemoaning the fact that no one rioted for Jerry...
 
Pulling Gone with the Wind is nonsense. It doesn’t celebrate the Lost Cause. Hattie McDaniel was the first black actor to win an Oscar.

The Germans episode of Fawlty Towers does not attack Germans, it shows Fawlty up as an Little Englander idiot.

Papa Lazaro of League of Gentlemen isn’t a white man in blackface, he’s a weird monster who calls everyone Dave.

The Spirit of Jazz in the Boosh is a voodoo loa, not a man.
 
Fawlty Towers episode pulled over 'racial slurs' to be reinstated by UKTV

An episode of Fawlty Towers, withdrawn because it contained "racial slurs", is set to be reinstated to its streaming service.

UKTV, which is BBC-owned, previously said it had temporarily pulled well-known episode The Germans while it carried out a review.

It will return to the platform "in the coming days", the organisation said in a statement, with "extra guidance and warnings... to highlight potentially offensive content and language".

The episode of the iconic sitcom was taken down in the wake of complaints, anti-racism protests and the toppling of statues.

It first aired in 1975, and shows character Major Gowen repeatedly using the N-word in reference to members of the West Indies cricket team, while also referring to Indians as "w***".

It includes hotel owner Basil Fawlty, played by John Cleese, goose-stepping around while shouting "don't mention the war" in front of a group of visiting Germans, after suffering a blow to the head.

The scene had been edited out of repeats shown on the BBC in 2013, after the issue was raised and Cleese's representatives were consulted.

Cleese, who co-wrote and starred in the popular series, called the decision to pull the episode "stupid" and accused executives of attempting to "pacify" people in a bid to "hang on to their jobs".

UKTV said: "We already offer guidance to viewers across some of our classic comedy titles, but we recognise that more contextual information can be required on our archive comedy, so we will be adding extra guidance and warnings to the front of programmes to highlight potentially offensive content and language.

"We will reinstate Fawlty Towers once that extra guidance has been added, which we expect will be in the coming days.

"We will continue to look at what content is on offer as we always have done."

It comes amid protests led by the Black Lives Matter movement which began in the US but have spread around the world.

The protests were prompted by the death of George Floyd, a black man killed when a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.

https://news.sky.com/story/fawlty-t...acial-slurs-to-be-reinstated-by-uktv-12005814
 
Matt Lucas and David Walliams have apologised for using blackface make-up during some sketches in Little Britain.

They both posted a statement to their Twitter accounts, with Lucas writing: "David and I have both spoken publicly in recent years of our regret that we played characters of other races. Once again we want to make it clear that it was wrong and we are very sorry."

The programme has been pulled from several catch-up and streaming services - including NOW TV, Britbox and BBC iPlayer - amid the heightened global spotlight on racism that has been spearheaded by the Black Lives Matter movement.

Little Britain has long been criticised for its portrayal of black and Asian characters by the white comedians, as well as gay characters and those with disabilities.

They include an obese Caribbean woman called Desiree, for which Walliams wore blackface, and a mail-order bride named Ting Tong. Others included Daffyd - "the only gay in the village" - and Andy, who was in a wheelchair.

The BBC said it decided to remove the show as "times have changed" since the comedy first aired in 2003.

Walliams and Lucas's other series, Come Fly With Me, which also featured blackface, has also been removed.

The stars have both said previously that they would make Little Britain differently today.

It joined a string of shows that have been entirely or partially taken off catch-up and streaming services.

Fawlty Towers has had one of its episodes temporarily removed from UKTV over "racial slurs" and "outdated language".

NOW TV, Netflix and Sky have all removed the The League of Gentlemen, which aired on the BBC between 1999 and 2002. One character played by Shearsmith, Papa Lazarou, wore blackface.

Channel 4 has pulled Bo' Selecta from their streaming service after Leigh Francis apologised for playing characters in blackface.

Episodes of Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly's Saturday Night Takeaway show have disappeared from ITV's online catch-up service, with the stars saying they had taken steps to ensure the footage was removed. In 2004, they dressed up as two Japanese girls.

The Paramount Network removed long-running US TV show Cops at the end of May after its theme tune, reggae song Bad Boys, came under fire for glorifying police aggression.

As the issue of systemic police racism in the US was brought into the spotlight following the death of George Floyd, the Paramount Network removed the show from air at the end of May, with no plans for it to return.

https://news.sky.com/story/david-wa...or-using-blackface-in-little-britain-12006347
 
Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Terry Crews has said four new episodes of the police comedy were thrown "in the trash" in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

Crews said the show would "start over" in light of the anti-racism protests.

He said: "We've had a lot of sombre talks about it and deep conversations and we hope through this we're going to make something that will be truly groundbreaking this year.

"We have an opportunity and we plan to use it in the best way possible."

Co-creator Dan Goor had four episodes "all ready to go" before Mr Floyd's death a month ago prompted widespread Black Lives Matter protests as well as soul-searching in society in the US and beyond, Crews said.

"They just threw them in the trash," he told Access Hollywood. "We have to start over. Right now we don't know which direction it's going to go in."

Crews did not give details of the content of the four scrapped episodes.

The actor and America's Got Talent presenter also recounted his own dealings with the police, saying police officers had pointed guns at him, mistakenly, before he became a well-known face.

"It's something that every black man has been through and it's hard to really try to get other people to understand," he said.

The 51-year-old said the momentum for change made it "Black America's Me Too movement".

"We always knew this was happening, but now white people are understanding," he said.

Earlier this month, Goor and the cast made a $100,000 (£79,000) donation to the National Bail Fund Network to support "the many people who are protesting police brutality".

Meanwhile, more than 300 black artists and executives - including Michael B Jordan, Idris Elba and Viola Davis - have signed an open letter calling on Hollywood to invest in black communities and stop the "glorification of police corruption" on screen.

The letter, published by Variety, was written by Insecure actor Kendrick Sampson, who was hit with police batons and shot with rubber bullets during the recent protests.

"The way that Hollywood and mainstream media have contributed to the criminalisation of black people, the misrepresentation of the legal system, and the glorification of police corruption and violence has had dire consequences on Black lives," it read.

It also demanded greater opportunities for black creatives off-camera and in senior management roles, as well as guaranteeing that marketing budgets were no longer slashed due to "myths of limited international sales and lack of universality of Black-led stories".

The letter noted how "distribution and marketing processes are often marred, filtered, and manipulated by the white gaze".

The open call comes in the same week that, in the UK, the BBC committed to investing £100m of its TV budget over a three year period to produce "diverse and inclusive content".

Terry said the worldwide movement is a chance for deep and meaningful change.

"This is an opportunity right now for us all to unite and get together and understand what this is and that we have to battle this together," he said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-53162280
 
Star Wars actor John Boyega has accused Disney of sidelining his character after marketing him as an important figure, and says his experience of the series was different as a black actor.

The 28-year-old played Finn, the first black Stormtrooper, in the latest trilogy, which started with The Force Awakens in 2015.

Appearing alongside Daisy Ridley's Rey and Adam Driver's villainous Kylo Ren, Boyega's time on screen diminished in sequel The Last Jedi in 2017 and finale The Rise Of Skywalker in 2019.

In an interview with British GQ, Boyega has claimed Disney gave more nuance to his Star Wars co-stars and that they did not know how to treat a black character.

"What I would say to Disney is do not bring out a black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are and then have them pushed to the side," he said. "It's not good. I'll say it straight up."

The actor, who was born in Peckham, south London, continued: "Like, you guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver.

"You knew what to do with these other people, but when it came to Kelly Marie Tran (who played Rose Tico and has Vietnamese heritage), when it came to John Boyega, you know f*** all.

"So what do you want me to say? What they want you to say is, 'I enjoyed being a part of it. It was a great experience...'

"Nah, nah, nah. I'll take that deal when it's a great experience.

"They gave all the nuance to Adam Driver, all the nuance to Daisy Ridley. Let's be honest. Daisy knows this. Adam knows this. Everybody knows. I'm not exposing anything."

Ahead of the release of The Rise Of Skywalker last year, Ridley, who was born in Westminster and was privately educated, faced an online backlash after claiming in an interview that she was no more privileged than Boyega, who applied for a hardship fund to join Theatre Peckham.

At the time, the actor posted a video on Instagram saying he had "all the love in my heart" for his co-star.

Speaking to the magazine about his general experience in Star Wars, as well as abuse he has received on social media, Boyega said it had made him more "militant" about racial inequality.

Following the death of George Floyd in the US, he joined Black Lives Matter protests and hit out at racist behaviour online.

Talking about experiences that have made him want to speak out more, he told GQ: "I'm the only [Star Wars] cast member who had their own unique experience of that franchise based on their race.

"Let's just leave it like that. It makes you angry with a process like that. It makes you much more militant; it changes you.

"Because you realise, 'I got given this opportunity but I'm in an industry that wasn't even ready for me'.

"Nobody else in the cast had people saying they were going to boycott the movie because [they were in it].

"Nobody else had the uproar and death threats sent to their Instagram DMs and social media, saying, 'Black this and black that and you shouldn't be a Stormtrooper'.

"Nobody else had that experience. But yet people are surprised that I'm this way. That's my frustration."

Boyega told the magazine he did not want to "talk through this filter of professionalism and emotional intelligence" that is often expected of celebrities.

"Sometimes you just need to be mad," he said. "You need to lay down what it is that's on your mind.

"Sometimes you don't have enough time to play the game."

Sky News has contacted Disney for comment.

https://news.sky.com/story/john-boy...racter-was-sidelined-because-of-race-12061696
 
Hmm Disney is also the producer of Black Panther..but I see how modern actors are going to react if their role isn't as meaty as they think..
 
Everyone is a victim these days. Anytime someone gets shorthanded for whatever may be the reason, that someone assumes it is because of his race.

Sure there is racism. But the way minority celebrities cry and whine about it is pathetic and make it look much larger than it actually is.

65% of America is still white. There are a good 15% of people who can qualify as white unless they specifically identify themselves otherwise. So 80% of America pretty much look white. Hence the entertainment industry, music industry mainly caters to them.
Nobody cries racism when it comes to Sports like NBA, NFL and MLB. They are overwhelmingly black. Like 90% of them in case of NBA and MLB. Why so many African Americans in these Million dollar sports?

The worst part of all of these are white Hollywood celebs who hate their own skin color and ashamed of their heritage :facepalm:

Its shameful that in 2020, people still want to use race as a clutch for their failure. There are still racists out there. No country can be racist free. If a person has talent, nobody can stop him/her in the West.
 
MenInG said:
Star Wars actor John Boyega has accused Disney of sidelining his character after marketing him as an important figure, and says his experience of the series was different as a black actor.

The 28-year-old played Finn, the first black Stormtrooper, in the latest trilogy, which started with The Force Awakens in 2015.

Appearing alongside Daisy Ridley's Rey and Adam Driver's villainous Kylo Ren, Boyega's time on screen diminished in sequel The Last Jedi in 2017 and finale The Rise Of Skywalker in 2019.

In an interview with British GQ, Boyega has claimed Disney gave more nuance to his Star Wars co-stars and that they did not know how to treat a black character.

"What I would say to Disney is do not bring out a black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are and then have them pushed to the side," he said. "It's not good. I'll say it straight up."

The actor, who was born in Peckham, south London, continued: "Like, you guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver.

"You knew what to do with these other people, but when it came to Kelly Marie Tran (who played Rose Tico and has Vietnamese heritage), when it came to John Boyega, you know f*** all.

"So what do you want me to say? What they want you to say is, 'I enjoyed being a part of it. It was a great experience...'

"Nah, nah, nah. I'll take that deal when it's a great experience.

"They gave all the nuance to Adam Driver, all the nuance to Daisy Ridley. Let's be honest. Daisy knows this. Adam knows this. Everybody knows. I'm not exposing anything."

Ahead of the release of The Rise Of Skywalker last year, Ridley, who was born in Westminster and was privately educated, faced an online backlash after claiming in an interview that she was no more privileged than Boyega, who applied for a hardship fund to join Theatre Peckham.

At the time, the actor posted a video on Instagram saying he had "all the love in my heart" for his co-star.

Speaking to the magazine about his general experience in Star Wars, as well as abuse he has received on social media, Boyega said it had made him more "militant" about racial inequality.

Following the death of George Floyd in the US, he joined Black Lives Matter protests and hit out at racist behaviour online.

Talking about experiences that have made him want to speak out more, he told GQ: "I'm the only [Star Wars] cast member who had their own unique experience of that franchise based on their race.

"Let's just leave it like that. It makes you angry with a process like that. It makes you much more militant; it changes you.

"Because you realise, 'I got given this opportunity but I'm in an industry that wasn't even ready for me'.

"Nobody else in the cast had people saying they were going to boycott the movie because [they were in it].

"Nobody else had the uproar and death threats sent to their Instagram DMs and social media, saying, 'Black this and black that and you shouldn't be a Stormtrooper'.

"Nobody else had that experience. But yet people are surprised that I'm this way. That's my frustration."

Boyega told the magazine he did not want to "talk through this filter of professionalism and emotional intelligence" that is often expected of celebrities.

"Sometimes you just need to be mad," he said. "You need to lay down what it is that's on your mind.

"Sometimes you don't have enough time to play the game."

Sky News has contacted Disney for comment.

https://news.sky.com/story/john-boy...racter-was-sidelined-because-of-race-12061696
Click to expand...

He is having a pop at Disney but happy to be paid by them. He should count his luck stars he got a break in Star Wars.

His career is over, and for what? BLM?
 
John Boyega has resigned as global ambassador for perfume brand Jo Malone after he was replaced in an ad he made for them by a Chinese actor.

The Star Wars actor made the personal video in his home town of London, but it was re-shot for the Chinese market.

The company apologised for what it described as a "misstep" that caused "offence".

However, Boyega has said Jo Malone was "wrong" to have used another actor "without my consent or prior notice".

Writing on Twitter, the British star said while he accepted that companies would use different representatives around the world, "dismissively trading out one's culture this way is not something I can condone".
 
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