'Black-ish' episode banned from ABC available on Hulu
Hulu has a surprise for Black-ish fans. The platform has released a 'controversial' episode of this series titled Please, Baby, Please, which was cancelled by ABC in 2018, shortly before airing due to fear of backlash. Creator Kenya Barris took to Twitter on Monday to express happiness about the episode being broadcast to viewers, and hopes "it inspires some much-needed conversation." Here's more.
Creator Kenya Barris thanks Disney, ABC for airing the episode
A brief about the sitcom that started in 2014
Black-ish is a sitcom about the socio-political struggles of the Johnson family that lives in an upper middle-class white neighborhood. It's about a successful man of color who wonders if his ascent has singled him out in the eyes of his white neighbors. It started in 2014 and with 143 episodes, has an IMDb rating of 7.1. Its seventh season will premiere in 2021.
What was the banned episode all about?
In this once-banned episode, infant Devante is shown crying incessantly and the whole family is trying to calm him down, as a storm rages outside. Dre, his father, tells him a story about a shady king, whose prominence is creating a lot of problems for a particular kind of folks. The narration had strong references to the then socio-political scenario in the US.
Did the episode draw a reference to Trump's white supremacy?
The references were about the fear of white supremacy a year after Donald Trump became the US President. While Dre's wife Bow says Devante has his entire life to be bothered by such concerns, Dre struggles to simplify his story without diluting reality. Given the sticky situation, ABC and Barris got into a disagreement over 'creative differences' and eventually, it was pulled down.
Barris spoke to Walt Disney TV, convinced them
Now, after the show's Juneteenth and Hope episodes were aired, Barry talked to Walt Disney Television, which agreed to showcase the episode. It has a rating of 9.8 on IMDb for showing how people of color continue to feel threatened. The monologues and contribution of each adult member stressing over how 2017 has been one of the worst years for the community have enthralled fans.
