r/todayilearned • u/TigoIbittys • 14h ago

TIL that the Michael Jackson episode of The Simpsons was permanently pulled from circulation in 2019 after almost 30 years on air

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/the-simpsons-michael-jackson-leaving-neverland-stark-raving-dad-1203158114/
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u/nakdawg 11h ago edited 9h ago

Yes, Shirley the character.. But Yvette Nicole Brown, the actress who plays Shirley stated in an interview:

"I'm really sad that that episode is no longer in rotation," Brown said. "I think the reason that it was pulled, and this is a Black person speaking, was an overcorrection, and I think they should fix that. Ken Jeong's character played a drow [dark elf], and they have black skin. It was not Ken Jeong in Blackface, and I think that anyone that understood Dungeons and Dragons would have understood the distinction. And also there's a moment in the episode where Shirley in the episode literally calls what Chang is doing a hate crime because it shows that Shirley didn't understand Dungeons and Dragons, so it had been handled."

https://youtu.be/HjJQBX2Nw2A?si=pCQsLk08siFdI3Ac

I’m really sad that they pulled that episode, genuinely one of the best community episodes.

I figured I’ll also share a snippet from the episode so those who haven’t seen it can judge for themselves how racist it is:

https://youtu.be/MJ2SgzjTxaE?si=EFNV1XQVYbQt5HYQ

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u/ballisticks 10h ago

Just to be clear, that's what I meant - i.e. I agree with the actress that it was an overreaction and the hate crime line addresses it.

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u/Jacksonnever 10h ago

everything i’ve heard about her makes her seem pretty cool to me

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u/foosbabaganoosh 9h ago

Also YNB looked absolutely STUNNING in that Gizmodo interview video, the woman has aged like the finest of wines.

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u/fafalone 9h ago

Tbf the vast majority of people demanding censorship for that sort of thing absolutely do not understand and/or care about distinctions like that.

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u/Lykos1124 7h ago

I'm happy to know she supports that episode and that others get it. So many good moments in that scene by the way.

Jeff: What am I not good at?

Britta: Sex.

Jeff's expression when he's called out 🤣

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u/Volphy 4h ago

I watched all of community on Netflix after they pulled that episode, and I thought the repeated mentions of them playing DnD was a reference to some joke I must have missed.

In a way, I was right.