The BBC has confirmed it will keep Summer Heights High on its platform despite comedian and actor Chris Lilley’s use of brownface.
In the Australian sitcom, Lilley plays the character Jonah Takalua. When the show came out back in 2007 it sparked an online protest movement from young Tongans who expressed their concern over Lilley’s “stereotypical” portrayal of the culture.
The announcement from the BBC comes after Little Britain was removed from the platform — along with Netflix and Britbox — after they all agreed that the use of blackface by Matt Lucas and David Walliams was unacceptable.
These decisions follow the widespread Black Lives Matter protests which have sparked a number of mainstream conversations about systemic racism and white privilege.
However, a spokesperson for the BBC told Metro that Lilley’s show will remain on the platform for now.
“The change only affects Little Britain,” they said. “There’s a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer, which we regularly review.”
This is not the first time Lilley has come under fire for his “problematic” comedy sketches.
In 2011, Alfred Ngaro (New Zealand’s Minister for Pacific Peoples) condemned Lilley’s performance on Summer Heights High, saying that it perpetuated harmful images of Pacific People.
Then in 2019, Lilley faced a backlash for using blackface in Lunatics — a 10-part mockumentary where he played Jana Melhoopen-Jonks, a South African lesbian pet psychic to the stars.
Speaking to The Australian, the 45-year-old defended his work against criticism.
“I’m not trying to do the thing that is trendy at the moment,” he said.
Lilley added that he will continue to create what he believes to be “clever, layered” characters and that the premise of Lunatics is that “everyone is a little bit weird”.
