Four episodes of 30 Rock, including two featuring Jane Krakowski’s Jenna character in blackface, are being removed from streaming platforms and TV reruns
Tina’s reaction to Jenna wearing blackface in the season-three episode “Believe in the Stars”. Photo: NBC Four episodes of 30 Rock, including two featuring Jane Krakowski’s Jenna character in blackface, are being removed from subscription streaming services Hulu and Amazon Prime and have also been made unavailable for sale on purchase platforms such as iTunes and Google Play.
“As we strive to do the work and do better in regards to race in America, we believe that these episodes featuring actors in race-changing makeup are best taken out of circulation,” Fey wrote in a letter to the platforms that streamed or sold 30 Rock. “I understand now that ‘intent’ is not a free pass for white people to use these images. I apologize for pain they have caused. Going forward, no comedy-loving kid needs to stumble on these tropes and be stung by their ugliness.
The two Jenna blackface episodes being removed, which were gone at least a week ago, per Reddit observers, are from the third and fifth seasons of 30 Rock. The season-three episode, “Believe in the Stars,” aired first on November 6, 2008, and includes a plot in which Jenna and Tracy Jordan decide to swap identities in order to determine whether black men or white women face more challenges in society. This “experiment” includes Jenna darkening her skin.
In addition, Universal is removing season six’s live episode in which guest star Jon Hamm appears in a wig and crude blackface, part of a spoof of the racist radio and TV show Amos ’n’ Andy. The studio is also pulling the East Coast version of 30 Rock’s first live episode ; the West Coast version will remain. Vulture is trying to find out the precise reason the East Coast version has been removed.
The 30 Rock news comes two weeks after WarnerMedia’s HBO Max platform removed Gone With the Wind from the newly launched service. In that instance, however, the company said the film would return with new warnings and an introduction from TCM host and University of Chicago media studies professor Jacqueline Stewart explaining why the movie is problematic.
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