Hulu has removed an episode of the classic sitcom The Golden Girls from its library due to a scene with characters in blackface. In recent weeks, the entertainment industry has taken a hard look at its treatment of race as a result of the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests. Many media companies have made donations to organizations working for racial equality and vowed to do better themselves. The world of comedy has been under especially close examination. Adult animated series, for example, have a long history of whitewashing voice roles, with some actors, including Kristen Bell and Jenny Slate, stepping down from voicing characters of color. The Simpsons will also no longer cast white actors as non-white characters, in a move that will hopefully be echoed elsewhere in animation.
TV shows featuring blackface have also come under fire. An alarming number of comedies in the last decade have had content taken down this week, including Community, 30 Rock, and Scrubs. In some cases, a single scene or moment was all that needed to be removed, such as with The Office. However, 30 Rock and Scrubs had several instances of characters in blackface, requiring multiple episodes to be taken down from streaming. Individual comedians have also answered for their past uses of blackface, with both Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon apologizing in recent weeks.
Now, yet another show has removed content due to characters in blackface. Per Variety, Hulu has taken down the season 3 episode titled “Mixed Blessings.” In one scene, Blanche (Rue McClanahan) and Rose (Betty White) wear mud masks and explain to a visiting family, “This is mud on our faces, we’re not really Black.” It’s unclear at this point how the episode’s removal came about, though it makes sense considering the events of this week.
The removal of The Golden Girls episode is a little different than contemporary comedies that have done the same. The episode in question aired in 1988, which doesn’t excuse its use of blackface. However, unfortunately, it was a more common practice at that time in the entertainment industry, which does help contextualize it. Given the pervasive use of blackface, it seems likely more shows may have episodes removed in coming days.
It’s also worth noting that all of the shows with episodes removed are comedies, which points to the incorrect and problematic assumption that blackface is inherently comedic, an idea also shown in The Golden Girls scene. Removing TV episodes like this one helps challenges that assumption, but it also doesn’t fix the thinking that led here. Instead, the entertainment industry at large needs to continue taking a hard look at its handling of race, which is the only way to move forward during this important moment.
