Netflix has the BBC series on Friday Little Britain removed from the streaming platform because the actors can be seen in blackface in certain roles, reports Variety Tuesday.
The series has also been removed from BBC iPlayer, BBC’s streaming platform. A spokesman for the BBC said about this Variety: “There are many old programs available on BBC iPlayer that we regularly review. Times have changed since Little Britain was first broadcast, therefore it is currently not available on BBC iPlayer. “
Little Britain was broadcast between 2003 and 2005 and is written by Matt Lucas and David Walliams, who can also be seen in the series. The white comedians played characters of various ethnicities and used make-up for this.
In 2017, Lucas already told the magazine The Big Issue that he wouldn’t make the show the same way now. “It would hurt people. We then made a more cruel comedy than I would do now.”
“Society has changed a lot since then and my own views have evolved. There was no bad intention – all you could accuse us of was greed. We just wanted to show what a diverse group of people we can play,” said Lucas.
The decision to discontinue the show stems from widespread anti-racism protests following the death of George Floyd, the black American who was killed by police brutality.
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