As the Black Lives Matter movement continues to receive support around the world, a number of television programs have been pulled from streaming services due to racially insensitive content, and the latest such one is The Mighty Boosh.
Shows such as Little Britain, Come Fly With Me and a number of Chris Lilley creations have been pulled for the use of blackface, and now The Mighty Boosh has been removed for the same reason.
British series The Mighty Boosh has been removed from Netflix because of a blackface character called The Spirit of Jazz.
The Spirit of Jazz is portrayed by Noel Fielding within the show, who had recently teased that a new series of The Mighty Boosh might return in 2020. Of course, now, it appears that this probably won’t happen; or if it does, we should certainly expect that Fielding’s blackface wearing character will not appear. The character is described as the ghost of Howlin’ Jimmy Jefferson and sees Fielding paint his face black, wearing a dread-locked wig and speaking in a New Orleans accent. This portrayal raises several concerns surrounding racial stereotyping, not to mention distasteful racism.
While England and Australian streaming services pull a number of popular television shows in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement, several U.S. celebrities have seen their past come back to haunt them. One of the most heavily covered was the recently resurfaced footage of Jimmy Fallon in blackface where he performed in an SNL skit as Chris Rock. In addition, a number of old films including Gone With The Wind have been edited to include a prefix which discusses the historical context of the film, denouncing any racist depictions of black people.
These changes have received a mixed response among the public. While some believe these changes are a necessity to the movement, fans of the shows are dismayed to see them removed.
