Little Britain's collapse is complete! Show pulled from multiple streamers because of blackface characters

So very very funny.

Why not pull it because it isn’t funny and a complete rip-off of the superior “The League of Gentlemen”?

Thank gob I own the dvds. Can't cancel those.

I'm surprised the trannies didn't already get it pulled for its "We're LADIES" skits.

Oh no not Vicky! The real English rose!

A new network or streaming service will pop up like Fox originally did back in the 1980s (they branded themselves the “rebel network“) and will label itself a PC-free zone. Subscriptions will be through the roof. I’m telling you it’s on the way and these broadcasters are going to be sorry. People are tired of this crap. Comedians and the public are really getting fed up. There is tons of shit I hate, comedians that I find offensive, but I would never want them banned or censored.

[quote] I'm surprised the trannies didn't already get it pulled for its "We're LADIES" skits.

They already tried to recently when Walliams and Lucas revived the characters for some Zoom thing a month ago.

They went nuts over The League of Gentlemen’s minstrel character - a joke about people who live in a small town and are narrow-minded.

I don't remember the blackface skits, but the We're ladies, Vicky and Only Gay in the Village Skits are legendary.

The Ladies skits are on YouTube.

What the hell did people expect? This show is well known for being trashy offensive and tasteless, thats why its one of my favourites. I will look for the DVD's now or find it on some alternative platform.Or grab it off the torrents if I have to

Already have League of Gentlemen DVD set. It is quite a different show to Little Britain, in that it is a cohesive (if somewhat insane ) comedy drama, with a plotline, whereas Little Britain is a collection of skits involving a core set of characters. One of the main characters on League of Gentlemen is Babs the cab driver, amazed the trans activists didnt lose their minds over "her"

R10, they brought back Babs in the latest episodes two years ago and it was all about pronouns. She’s militant now. It was very smartly done. Instead of shying away from the issue they dive right in. They asked Babs about her pronouns and she threw them out of the cab because they should already know her pronouns.

R11 saw that Googling for her. She's also upgraded from a 1988 Mazda 626 (linked) to a 2005 Citroen Dispatch

They made Royston Vasey the pro-Brexit down in the latest specials. It's a local town for local people, damnit!

Everything about Little Britain was a rip-off. Fat Fighters was a rip-off of Job Seekers.

R4 every year when my partner asks me what kind of cake I want for my BD, I always break into the "ladies' cake" routine.

Why not just remove those sketches instead of the entire show?

Because r16, they must paaaaaay!!!!

[quote]What the hell did people expect?

And what exactly did YOU expect, in a culture that has been calling out blackface for years?

"Little Britain" had an expiration date, that's just how cultural trash works. Something that's merely tasteless in 2000 is likely to be highly offensive two decades later. You can't be surprised by that.

Matt Lucas himself said a few years ago that he was making "cruel humor" back when the radio show began and now he and the culture have changed, and he wouldn't do it again nowadays.

Tracey Ullman, they're coming for you, gurl!

That's not Rebel Wilson in OP's pic????

R12 / R13 -- I had no idea there were newer episodes/specials of League of Gentlemen. Hopefully I can find those online somewhere in the US!

As for Little Britain, they were occasionally funny, but it was basically the same shtick over and over. I was also, frankly, shocked the first time I saw the full on black and brownface on their show well into the 2000s.

Britain has had a different attitude to blackface than America.

Because the minstrel shows were an American thing, R22. For some reason the rest of the world has to adhere to American norms.

I remember marmalade jars in England with a minstrel on the label.

Only real women have a minstrel period.

I'm surprised they didn't mention the old racist Maggie who would puke any time she found out she was eating food prepared by anyone of any ethnicity other than white.

Jon Hamm and Jane Krakowski on "30 Rock" will be next.

I guess this episode of Are You Being Served will never be shown again. In fact, several PBS stations in the US refused to show it many years ago. Go to 31:20.

I've always found it interesting that they entire cast wore blackface except Miss Brahms. I would love to know the story behind that. Did she refuse to do it or what?

But that was mocking the racists, R26.

[quote]Jon Hamm and Jane Krakowski on "30 Rock" will be next.

They weren’t disparaging black people. They were disparaging white people too stupid to know wearing black face disparaged black people.

I know that R29, but these days the PC crazies don't seem to care what the reason for it was.

Context means nothing to the most devoted SJWs, unless it is one of their favorite people who commits the offense.

Some bits were pretty funny. Vicky Pollard, Lou & Andy, the prime minister and his gay secretary all had their moments. With hindsight, the Emily Howard sketches (which I found sad rather than funny at the time) were spookily accurate in predicting how the trans rights movement would evolve.

The blackface sketches, however, were stupid and unfunny.

My absolute favorite was Carol Beer

I liked Maggie the puker

The end.

I thought both LB and League of Gentlemen were hilarious, but sketch comedy is not really comparable to a series with an extended and twisty plot.

J'adore LB!

I've been rewatching 30 Rock and there are so many jokes that would have gotten people in hot water if it was being aired right now. I hope they don't start editing episodes or, even worse, pulling the show altogether.

Jenna's blackface was supposed to highlight how tone deaf she is as a human being, but I think others are right. Context means nothing to a lot of these folks. They don't understand that it's making fun of someone's decision to put on blackface. It's not the blackface itself that's supposed to be funny, it's her being dumb enough to think that's ok. It's laughing at her.

We may never see that clip of Joan Crawford in her "tropical makeup" again.

RIP Chris Lilley

The thing with Chris Lilley is that he always brought genuine humanity to every role he played on his shows. They never felt like one note stereotypes. I really hope he doesn't get cancelled, because I really loved his style. He made you actually care for these characters.

My fav is Sebastian. I particularly like the episode when he accompanies the PM to the White House.

Will Asians decry Ting Tong next? Sorry, I mean Tong Ting. Hilarious too.

So, a comedy show gets cancelled, but Justin Trudeau gets to keep his job. Makes sense.

R42, I love him, too.

Computer says no.

I think I've still got mental scarring from how often that used to get quoted in ICT class. That and "am I bovvered".

Actually it's "compu-uh says nayoooo"

Next on the menu: people!

Forget it, you will never be able to explain satire to people. If you see Vicki as misogynistic, or Carol Beers as transphobic, there is no help for. George S. Kaufman defined it thus: "Satire is what closes Saturday night." This is doubly wonderful because you often are then called upon to explain *that* explanation. Like I said, you either get it or you don't. But claiming such things are irredeemably phobic just shows a lack creative thinking.

How do people find blackface funny? It’s offensive, old fashioned and unnecessary.

Jesus H. why don’t they just spin bow ties and do who’s on first for their big finales.

Whatever. I still love Vicky Pollard and Bubbles Devere.

Bubbles and Desiree are hilarious.

But honestly, British humor has always been highly irreverent. No one does it better than the Brits. They make fun of the eccentricities of everyone, not just minorities. Their Little Britain In The USA went in hard on whites in this country, but no one is whining about that.

So are Kids in the Hall next?

Who's next? Some great American Icons. Judy Garland, Amos and Andy, Al Jolson, Gone with the Wind. Stepin Fetchit...

Hides you women. Hides you chillins.

Blackface has never been funny. Even on the Chris Lilley shows, I'd say his aboriginal characters were always the least funny, but at least he didn't treat them like a joke.

You never got the sense that he was just saying "oh, look at me - I'm playing an aboriginal, Asian, gay, or female character. Isn't just the idea of that hilarious?" What was funny was their behavior and he really got into their heads. This is why I hope he doesn't end up with any backlash, because I think he's a wonderful actor and very humane writer. The message of his shows seem to always be "we're a lot more alike that you'd think."

R51, swear to god, my husband put on “Silver Streak tonight for some comic relief from all the race stuff, and there’s Gene Wilder in blackface and some old white man calling Richard Pryor “Ni**er”.

I really have to wonder about his motives.

R56, agreed. Blackface shuckin’ and jivin’ isn’t funny.

I liked Tracey Ullman’s for the same reason I like Lilley’s. The portrayals aren’t mean-spirited. I loved Jonah on because he pointed out the hypocrisy of school administration (although I thought the teachers were quite tolerant). I love Gavin as well, because I have a soft spot for bad boys and fifth-grade humor.

Nah R54 kids in the hall is bland white Canadian. LB is outrageous. You have to wonder what they got away with some of thee things they did. Yo Brits, are there any shows that are even more outrageous?

KITH also did blackface r59, that’s what I’m referring to.

Da Ali G Show was mighty outrageous. Nighty Night had its moments too.

I enjoyed the whiteface in White Chicks.

god dammit its satire and comedy !!!! leave it be !!!!

I’m a Yank and I don’t remember any blackface in LB. Did they edit it out for BBC America?

R64, Desiree in R53 is apparently seen as a blackface. I personally find it ridiculous since Little Britain was all about being outrageous. Then again I must admit that maybe I as a white gay man fail to see the ways characters like Desiree might be deeply hurtful for black people, or maybe for overweight women as well. We only have to think about the awful homophobic jokes from the 80s to find examples of our own. That said, again, I still fail to see nastiness or true racism in Little Britain's jokes.

We're heading to the future of Sylvester Stallone and Sandra Bullock's 1993 scifi film Demolition Man. Stallone, a tough cop is cryogenically frozen in 1996 and is brought back to life in 2032 to a totally different society. There's no crime, no cussing, no discrimination, and everyone is just so very nice to each other. Stallone is brought back to fight a ruthless criminal who's also from the past, since cops in 2032 are useless because they never see real crime happening anymore. It's not exactly a great film and it's been like two decades since I last saw it but seeing where the world is going more and more on the liberal side of things I'm reminded of the film almost daily.

Who could forget those three seashells r65?

Gotta love the assholes here who can’t live without all those scenes in blackface.

Yeah,that’s a real loss to culture and all that we are.

I like comedies with real colored people in them.

ima white boy raised on lucy and amos/andy….........great comedy....nuff sed

Part of the appeal about ‘Little Britain’, was that all the main characters were played by the same two guys and admiring how they could pull this off. Adding other actors would’ve ruined this experience.

LB was my fave show, brilliant. god I pray this is not a waave of censorship against blackish humor. too much dam pc...ITS COMEDDY DAMMIT

I guess no one watched 'Come Fly With Me', in which Walliams and Lucas played much more blackface characters. I liked the show, but it was definitely cringey.

white people are extremely tone deaf. It's always funny when it's at the expense of other groups, but when people start to lay into them hard they get mad can't take it and end up voting for Trump in a fit of white lash.

White gays see nothing wrong with making fun of racial minorities and making fun of them, but the moment you "target" them, they're calling every protective gay group they can find to play victim and whine about "gay persecution" which doesn't exist by the way. If your white you are privileged beyond belief, regardless of whatever. Being white automatically give you enormous advantages.

No wonder the west is in decline.

Sure, r73 - because if there's one group "Little Britain" never made fun of, it's white gays....

While Tracey Ullman did it in the right spirit with black actors helping her, not to mention she got great praise from the black community who took to it at the time, she said recently that it wouldn’t be something she’d do today and how horrifying it was to do in the first place. She knew she was pushing the envelope. Comedy changes and she recognizes that. She even poked fun of herself in her latest BBC series along with her daughter about how she’d love to play a North Korean news broadcaster. Her daughter says it’s not the 1970s and she would get slaughtered on Twitter.

R73, don’t you have a book burning to attend?

[quote]"gay persecution" which doesn't exist by the way.

Your death is greatly anticipated.

[quote] LB was my fave show, brilliant.

Every sketch had they repeating the same catch phrases. It was dreadful along with Catherine Tate. Ricky Gervais made a show that pointed out how they ruined British comedy with “Extras”. Suddenly you couldn’t have a show without a catch phrase to sell merchandise.

Little Britain actually had two minstrel characters.

Chris Lilley's show s are next.

Netflix and the BBC were in lockstep over the decision to remove episodes of Little Britain from their libraries after the British comedy featured blackface sketches, but differences of views are emerging over other shows.

In the heat of the Black Lives Matter movement, Deadline can reveal that Netflix has removed four shows from controversial Australian comedian Chris Lilley from its services in Australia and New Zealand.

Angry Boys, Summer Heights High, We Can Be Heroes, and Jonah From Tonga have all been taken down.

Lilley uses the n-word, so.

R65 very astute observations there.

I remember going to see Demolition Man with my first partner when it came out. I had very low expectations but found it a much better film than I thought it would be, and yes, it was scarily prescient looking back, the same way old George Orwell is turning out to be, its just taking longer than he thought. I must go look at Demolition Man again

R32 I loved just about everything in Little Britain. Yes, its offensive, but it is equal opportunity offensive, nobody escapes having the piss taken out of them, nobody and nothing is sacred, and that is a good thing, its a sign of a healthy society. With the skits involving Bubbles DeVere and Desiree, the blackface is incidental to the skit, its not the point and is not the focus of the amusement. Yes a few of the skits are kinda cringy/ uncomfortable, but that comes with the territory

I just hope that when I go to look for a streaming platform that still carries it that I dont get Computer Says No

Someone is going to construct a NO PC steaming service that will scoop up these dropped programs and people are going to flock to it.

Detractors be damned!

*streaming

R83 , R6 had the same idea. And you are both absolutely right. They will need to carry a load of other popular but non controversial stuff as well though in order to make the numbers work. An existing provider should stick its neck out and do this, it is quite a competitive market and it would be a cheap way to get a competitive advantage that would basically be advertised on your behalf for nothing by all the "woke" idiots

Little Britain made fun of everyone and had an anti-racist, anti-xenophobic message in all of the writing. The fat fighters Marjorie character was purposefully hideous.

R86, to be fair that was due to Lucas being dragged to one of them as a kid.

That being said the show was dreadful. Repeating a catch phrase a million times is lazy comedy.

The only thing I remember seeing of Little Britain was the one where the fat society woman and the fat black woman duke it out in the nude.

Evidently fat people are innately funny in Britain and fat black people are even funnier. As there was absolutely zero humor in the episode otherwise, I fail to see where all this scathing wit was supposed to be.

It couldn't have been when the fat white woman called the fat black woman a hippo and said she belonged in a zoo, right? I mean, that's not just a little bit racially charged, is it?

Oh I say, pip pip , haw haw.

One of the best comedy shows ever.

We'll soon become mature enough as a society to distinguish between blackface for hate and blackface for humor, part of which is about how the whole concept of blackface is ridiculous.

Will channels be removing the White Chicks movie?

[quote] Who's next? Some great American Icons. Judy Garland, Amos and Andy, Al Jolson, Gone with the Wind. Stepin Fetchit.

Amos & Andy episodes were hidden away decades ago. I too was raised during the time of that show. I have every episode on DVD for posterity.

[quote]The only thing I remember seeing...

So you're not qualified to judge an entire series based on the one skit you remember seeing. Then again, we're on DL where everyone's guilty even if proven innocent.

[quote] One of the best comedy shows ever.

For people who have single digit IQs.

R92, the entire show was one punch line repeated. You saw one sketch you’ve seen them all. Lazy and unfunny.

Believe it or not, [R92], once someone dumps a bucket of shit over my head I don't have them do it several more times to see if it turns into chocolate pudding.

I loved the skit about the musical with a thousand Vietnamese children on stage

Computer says...no

We're ladies!

White Chicks is due to air on UK TV on Friday evening. Awkward timing. (For the record, I know "blacking up" is much more offensive than "whiting up", but I doubt social media agrees with me.)

Actually, R99, I think you'll find "social media" agrees with you. Not only are they not equal, they're completely false equivalencies. There is just no comparison between the two if we pay even the slightest bit of attention to power structures in our society.

British humor is dated crap.

R100, well, the balance of power is tipping.

What will our new SJW overlords allow us to watch?

"Oh, stewardess? I speak Jive!"

I fear for the future of art. A future where only navel-gazing confessional art and political art approved by state and academia will be allowed. Anything remotely ambiguous (akin to symbolism or surrealism) will be deemed suspicious.

R104 your first five words are enough.

No, I don't fear for the future of art. Every social and political movement starts with art.

....

Will To Sir With Love still be available to watch in Britain?

Their Japanese schoolgirl skit is hilarious, and a PC nightmare.

Well Japan that's what you get for bombing Pearl Harbor.