Netflix has cut a scene containing blackface from popular comedy series Peep Show.
The series two episode Dance Class, which first aired on Channel 4 in 2004, sees Jeremy (played by Robert Webb) "black up" at the request of his new girlfriend Nancy (Rachel Blanchard) as they experiment in the bedroom.
The now-deleted scene sees Jez acknowledging how uncomfortable he feels while in blackface.
“It just feels almost wrong,” he says. “Are you sure this isn’t racist?”
Nancy responds that it only feels wrong because they are “breaking a taboo.”
“Jeremy, I come from America,” she tells him. “I’ve seen the problems race brings up.”
The scene finishes with Jeremy telling Nancy he feels too uncomfortable, before his flatmate Mark (David Mitchell) is shocked by Jeremy’s appearance.
The scene is still featured in episode on Channel 4’s on-demand service All 4, as well as widely available on YouTube.
Evening Standard has contacted Netflix and a representative for Webb for comment.
Webb has previously spoken out about the use of blackface in the Peep Show episode.
Speaking to Vice in 2015, he explained: “The whole comedy of that scene is that [Jez] is very, very worried about this, and it’s Nancy’s [his then-girlfriend] craziness and blithe… she’s just a bit f****** stupid.
“She’s a self-conscious taboo breaker, so she’s very aware of the taboo, whereas Jez is coming at it from a more sensible angle, that is, ‘Let’s not do this taboo.’
“With any kind of jokes in sensitive areas, you have to ask yourself, ‘What is this joke doing? Whose side is this joke on? How is it going to be misinterpreted and will they have a point if they misinterpret it?’
“Those are the kind of things you have to ask.”
The move comes after Leigh Francis’ Bo’ Selecta! was removed from All 4 due to the comedian’s lampoons on numerous black figures.
The Mighty Boosh and The League of Gentlemen have also been pulled from Netflix due to blackface, while Little Britain was removed from all streaming platforms due to its pastiches of people of numerous ethnic minorities.
Elsewhere, American platform HBO Max took the decision to remove classic movie Gone With the Wind after more fresh criticisms of its portrayal of black characters.
The film has since returned to their streaming library with a “discussion of its historical context and a denouncement of those very depictions.
