To be shocked that this was ever ok?! Blackface on Little Britain...

[BrexitBingoGenerator]

Hello. I've just been looking at the Daily Mail (sorry) and there is a thing about this. I was genuinely gobsmacked seeing the photo and it's completely offensive. However, at some time in the not-so-distant past, this was seen as mainstream comedy and I remember it being on primetime telly. So a critical mass of people must have thought this was ok? I never really watched little Britain and this sketch in particular made me want to heave, but I think at the time it was rather for its horrible portrayal of women generally. I don't remember outrage over it at the time. But maybe there was? I guess I'm just ashamed that comedy like this could have been screened in my adult lifetime.

[BeijingBikini]

If you take the argument "a person from an oppressor race shouldn't dress up as the oppressed race" (which I and many don't agree with, it depends on context) then if you follow that to its logical conclusion, we also shouldn't allow drag, or in fact dressing up as any protected characteristic which has historically suffered more than the one you are in. So white men shouldn't be allowed to dress as anything, basically. Noel Fielding dressing up as the Cockney eel man in Mighty Boosh, Ru Paul's Drag Race, etc.

That is bollocks. It is a comedy. Comedy is meant to shock and nothing should be off-limits for comedy. If you can't explore stereotypes, prejudices and difficult topics through comedy then we've gone wrong as a society somewhere. The answer definitely isn't to ban things - it's not the Cultural Revolution.

[BeijingBikini]

Oh, and for all the "my gay mate/Thai friend finds it hilarious" posters: internalised prejudice is a thing

I don't really think you can speak on behalf of other people like that

[Pumperthepumper]

@BeijingBikini

If you take the argument "a person from an oppressor race shouldn't dress up as the oppressed race" (which I and many don't agree with, it depends on context) then if you follow that to its logical conclusion, we also shouldn't allow drag, or in fact dressing up as any protected characteristic which has historically suffered more than the one you are in. So white men shouldn't be allowed to dress as anything, basically. Noel Fielding dressing up as the Cockney eel man in Mighty Boosh, Ru Paul's Drag Race, etc.

That is bollocks. It is a comedy. Comedy is meant to shock and nothing should be off-limits for comedy. If you can't explore stereotypes, prejudices and difficult topics through comedy then we've gone wrong as a society somewhere. The answer definitely isn't to ban things - it's not the Cultural Revolution.

I don’t think you’re the person to raise this argument though Bejing, you can’t even understand why blackface is racist.

[BeijingBikini]

I (and several others on this thread) see a clear difference between blackface done to mock black people for their race, and actors playing a black character, just like they play a variety of other characters. The entire premise of the show is 2 actors playing a range of people. If they only played middle-class white people, it would be accused of not being diverse.

You haven't actually bothered to debate my point. If dressing up as an oppressed race is offensive regardless of context, then logically so is dressing up as any oppressed protected characteristic or social class. Then shows like Drag Race would need to go too. I think it always depends on context.

[BeijingBikini]

I think it was @NeverFit who articulated this quite well

[Pumperthepumper]

You haven't actually bothered to debate my point. If dressing up as an oppressed race is offensive regardless of context, then logically so is dressing up as any oppressed protected characteristic or social class. Then shows like Drag Race would need to go too. I think it always depends on context.

Drag Race should go, it’s an appalling programme. I’m struggling to think of an oppressed characteristic that wouldn’t be better played by a person who understands what that oppression is like. Can you think of one?

[Pumperthepumper]

If they only played middle-class white people, it would be accused of not being diverse.

Also, this is just straight-up bullshit. They’re accused of not being diverse when the people they employ are mainly white, middle class men. Not because they’re not pretending to be a wide spectrum of races and disabilities.

[TulipsInAJug]

This is censorship.

And it's not healthy in a supposedly democratic society.

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute..” George Orwell - ‘1984’

[TulipsInAJug]

... History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.

George Orwell,1984

[Alabamawhirly1]

I feel like everyone has had a sence of humour removal.

It's a piss take. The whole show makes fun out of stereotypes - it's a mockery of the people that beleive those stereotypes.

Papa Lasaru was not blackface, it was a take on clown makeup and a scary child catcher type image. If you see an African person when you see papa Lasaru - you are the racist.

[user127820]

@TulipsInAJug

It isn't censorship. It's the BBC and Netflix deciding they no longer want to be associated with those particular programs, as is their right. Censorship would be if every DVD were confiscated and burnt. You can still buy and watch the DVDs.

[hypernormal]

It isn't censorship. It's the BBC and Netflix deciding they no longer want to be associated with those particular programs, as is their right. Censorship would be if every DVD were confiscated and burnt. You can still buy and watch the DVDs.

It still is censorship from their platforms. Not everyone has money to buy DVDs. They've made a moral decision on behalf of viewers that people shouldn't watch those shows any more and have made an attempt to limit access. As these programs were made by the BBC, perhaps they also have the right to stop further sales - which they haven't done yet, but who's to say they won't. Little Britain has deliberately anti-racist characters and scenes written into it to make fun of racist behaviour. I find the removal of it from these platforms a very short-sighted and tokenistic gesture, that will probably undermine the original intentions by only causing irritation.

[Pumperthepumper]

Little Britain has deliberately anti-racist characters and scenes written into it to make fun of racist behaviour.

No it doesn’t. If it did, it would have a diverse cast and not Ting Tong.

[Nousernamehistory]

@Pumperthepumper

The lack of cast diversity has been brought up and utterly ignored. As was the explanation of white people's inability to experience racism after it was demanded by a pp.
It's clear that some of the posters this thread is attracting are completely unwilling or unable to consider the side of the argument that doesn't fit their "humour bypass" narrative. It's very tedious.

[user127820]

@hypernormal
They have always made moral decisions on what to show viewers. When did we become so entitled as to think companies like Netflix and the BBC are obliged to show us anything we want? They have not censored the program, they have chosen not to make it available through their websites. You don't have to pay for Netflix or a TV licence if you don't like the choice of programs. If people can't afford DVDs, that just tough. Watching Little Britain is not essential to life.

[Destroyedpeople]

'Some people can't afford dvds' well really ..some people can't afford tv licence fees or Netflix subscriptions....what does that have to do with anything?

[im5050]

As a mixed race person I found it funny
I didn’t take offence to it
Although I did actually go to school with girls just like Vicky Pollard 😂

[Bluemoooon]

Goodness Gracious Me did more to show up racism than anything else.
The sketch 'Going out for an English' (spoof of british drunks going for an Indian) was brilliant.
Here is a rerun of it

[Thenextplateau]

I thought it was shit back then too. No great loss. If people are that desperate to watch it they can probably find the dvds.

[hypernormal]

No it doesn’t. If it did, it would have a diverse cast and not Ting Tong.

Yes, it does. It has Marjorie Dawes, who is mocked for being racist towards her Indian club member.
It mocks the woman who vomits every time she comes into contact with someone of a different ethnicity.
And it has this scene, which mocks white people who think they're so 'right on' by having a black friend.

Ironically, probably the same kind of people who are demanding Little Britain be taken down.

[Pumperthepumper]

Yes, it does. It has Marjorie Dawes, who is mocked for being racist towards her Indian club member.
It mocks the woman who vomits every time she comes into contact with someone of a different ethnicity.
And it has this scene, which mocks white people who think they're so 'right on' by having a black friend.

You’re not serious? Those characters are all played by the same two white men - how can that be considered a diverse cast?

[Pumperthepumper]

Oh, I see - you think because every so often a BAME person rocks up to validate the racism, the show could be considered diverse?

[Pumperthepumper]

[quote Nousernamehistory]@Pumperthepumper

The lack of cast diversity has been brought up and utterly ignored. As was the explanation of white people's inability to experience racism after it was demanded by a pp.
It's clear that some of the posters this thread is attracting are completely unwilling or unable to consider the side of the argument that doesn't fit their "humour bypass" narrative. It's very tedious.[/quote]
And yes to this - it’s such a lazy, thoughtless response. And they’re cowards - rather than openly saying ‘I don’t give a shit that it was racist, it made me laugh and that’s all I care about’ they desperately try to come up with reasons why it’s actually NOT racist. Pathetic.

[monkeyonthetable]

It was hideous, misogynistic racist crap always. I never understood how people could (rightly) sneer at the Black and White Minstrels Show but think Little Britain was edgy and alternative.

[hypernormal]

You’re not serious? Those characters are all played by the same two white men - how can that be considered a diverse cast?

You said there weren't any anti-racist scenes in Little Britain, I've demonstrated with evidence that there clearly are.
As for having a diverse cast, there are additional actors from a variety of different backgrounds in Little Britain, as the clip I've linked shows. You can argue that Walliams and Lucas shouldn't have played characters from different ethnicities in their sketches, but you're saying that the cast wasn't diverse, and that is demonstrably false. Please clarify your point, are you saying they shouldn't have played people from different ethnicities, and if not, why not?