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        <title><![CDATA[Netflix, BBC and BritBox pull ‘Little Britain’ due to blackface sketches]]></title>
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        <link>https://usagag.com/2020/06/09/netflix-bbc-and-britbox-pull-little-britain-due-to-blackface-sketches/</link>
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            <media:title type="html">Netflix, BBC and BritBox pull ‘Little Britain’ due to blackface sketches</media:title>
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        <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Netflix, the BBC and BritBox have all removed episodes of the series &#8220;Little Britain&#8221; from their libraries because of sketches involving blackface.</p><p>The BBC show, which premiered in 2003 and was written by and stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams, was pulled from Netflix on Friday, <strong>according to Variety</strong>, which adds that the other two networks yanked the content this week. All three streamers also removed the comedians&#8217; follow-up 2010-11 series &#8220;Come Fly With Me.&#8221;</p><p>“There’s a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer which we regularly review,&#8221; a BBC spokesperson told Variety. &#8220;Times have changed since ‘Little Britain’ first aired, so it is not currently available on BBC iPlayer.” The story <strong>was first reported</strong> by the Daily Mail.</p><p>The two series featured several controversial characters, including a black woman named Desiree DeVere, played by Walliams in full blackface makeup, and a Pakistani airline worker named Taaj, performed by Lucas. In April, the creators were slapped on social media for a telethon appearance in which they <strong>seemed to poke fun</strong> of a theory that people eating bats in China sparked the <strong>coronavirus</strong> pandemic. &#8220;Little Britain have done blackface and yellowface, so should I be surprised they opened with an Eating Bat joke? No&#8230;&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/iseowl/status/1253433658691600384" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a> one Twitter commenter.</p><figure id="attachment_15803872"  class="wp-caption aligncenter"><strong><noscript><img data- data-src="/uploads/2020/06/little-britain-blackface-02.jpg" class="lazyload" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==" /><noscript><img  data-src="/uploads/2020/06/little-britain-blackface-02.jpg" /></noscript></noscript><img class="lazyload" src='data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20210%20140%22%3E%3C/svg%3E' data- data-src="/uploads/2020/06/little-britain-blackface-02.jpg" /></strong><figcaption class="wp-caption-text"><span>Matt Lucas as Taaj in &#8220;Come Fly With Me.&#8221;</span><span class="credit">BBC</span></figcaption></figure><p>Lucas, 46, has previously expressed regret for some of his portrayals, which have received renewed criticism in light of Black Lives Matter protests worldwide in the aftermath of <strong>George Floyd</strong>&#8216;s May 25 death while in Minneapolis police custody.</p><p>“If I could go back and do &#8216;Little Britain&#8217; again, I wouldn’t make those jokes about transvestites. I wouldn’t play black characters,” <strong>the &#8220;Bridesmaids&#8221; actor said</strong> in a 2017 interview. “Basically, I wouldn’t make that show now. It would upset people. We made a more cruel kind of comedy than I’d do now.”</p><p>The &#8220;Little Britain&#8221; comics aren&#8217;t the only ones who have recently been criticized for performing in blackface. &#8220;The Tonight Show&#8221; host and &#8220;Saturday Night Live&#8221; alum Jimmy Fallon <strong>repeatedly apologized</strong> — saying he is &#8220;not a racist&#8221; — after a 2000 &#8220;SNL&#8221; sketch resurfaced in which he played Chris Rock while wearing blackface.</p><p>“I had to really examine myself in the mirror this week because a story came out about me on ‘SNL’ doing an impression of Chris Rock in blackface,” he said. “And I was horrified. Not of people trying to ‘cancel’ me or cancel this show, which is scary enough. The thing that haunted me the most was, &#8216;How do I say I love this person?&#8217;”</p>]]></content:encoded>
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