The Golden Girls: Hulu removes episode of US sitcom over blackface joke

Several TV shows and films have been removed, edited or had warnings added over their use of blackface

A 1988 episode of The Golden Girls featured a scene involving a blackface joke (Rex)

An episode of American sitcom The Golden Girls has been removed from Hulu because it features a scene involving a blackface joke.

According to Variety, the “Mixed Blessings” episode was removed at the request of series distributor, Disney-ABC Domestic Television.

In the episode, which aired in 1988, Michael (Scott Jacoby) is planning to marry Lorraine (Rosalind Cash), an older black woman. The couple’s families oppose the wedding and join forces to stop it.

When Lorraine’s family arrive, Rose (Betty White) and Blanche (Rue McClanahan), are in the process of applying mud facials. They greet the family, commenting: “This is mud on our faces, we’re not really black.”

A number of TV shows and films have been removed or had warnings added over their use of blackface.

Episodes of 30 Rock were removed by NBC Universal at the request of show creator Tina Fey, because they included characters wearing blackface.

Last week, Netflix and Hulu pulled an episode of Community where Ken Jeong’s character wears blackface.

A number of YouTube stars have also come under fire for past videos in which they also appear in blackface.

Jenna Marbles announced she would be quitting the platform over her videos, while controversial YouTube star Shane Dawson issued an apology for impersonating black and Asian people.

Meanwhile, The Simpsons announced it would no longer use white actors to voice non-white characters.

Family Guy and The Cleveland Show's Mike Henry said he was stepping down from his voice role as Cleveland Brown, so it could go to a person of colour.