Rebel Wilson has spoken out to defend her longtime pal Matt Lucas after his show Little Britain was pulled from Netflix over its black face characters.
Lucas and his co-star David Williams issued an apology after it was revealed the site was dropping the show, along with other streaming services including BBC iPlayer and BritBox.
Now Rebel has weighed in on the matter, insisting the decision to axe Little Britain was "a bit crazy".
During an interview on Australian news program Studio 10, the Pitch Perfect star said: "Matt Lucas' show Little Britain got pulled, which I just think is a bit crazy.
"They obviously played many different characters on that show."
She went on: "At the moment we're in the time of hyper-social justice as there are so many important things happening in the world.
"Obviously right now racial equality is such an important issue.
"But for the past few years, especially with the #MeToo movement, there's been a lot of social justice going on, which has made it difficult for comedians to flirt with that line.
"The thing is, throughout history, from way back with the court jesters in the monarchy, a comedian's job is to flirt with the line of what's acceptable."
When asked whether offensive material from years gone by should be banned, she replied: "I'm not a fan of just erasing things.
"I think with history, you should learn from it. If you erase it, it's a bit like denying it ever happened. That doesn't seem like a good plan!"
She added of Matt: "We lived together for three years. He's amazing... he's the kindest, most decent human being ever!"
The decision to pull the show was made in response to the Black Lives Matter movement as both Walliams and Lucas were seen using make-up to play characters of different races.
A spokesman for the BBC said: "There’s a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer, which we regularly review.
"Times have changed since Little Britain first aired so it is not currently available on BBC iPlayer."
Both the comedians issued a joint statement apologising for the comedy skits.
They wrote: "[We] have both spoken publicly in recent years of our regret that we played characters of other races.
"Once again we want to make it clear that it was wrong & we are very sorry."
