Netflix, BBC Pull U.K. Comedy "Little Britain" Over Use of Blackface
by Alex Ritman
June 9, 2020


British sketch comedy "Little Britain" — a hugely popular show in the mid-2000s and one that made household names in the U.K. of its creators and stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams — has been pulled from Netflix, BritBox and the BBC's iPlayer over concerns about racism, in particularly the use of blackface on several characters.

Netflix confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the show — which first aired in 2003 on BBC Three — had been removed from the platform on Friday alongside "Come Fly With Me", the comedy follow-up from Lucas and Walliams (and one also featuring characters using blackface).

"There’s a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer, which we regularly review,” added a spokesperson for the BBC. “Times have changed since Little Britain first aired, so it is not currently available on BBC iPlayer."

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-bbc-pull-uk-comedy-little-britain-use-blackface-1297679

"Little Britain" Creators Apologize for Blackface Sketches
by Bruce Haring
June 13, 2020


David Walliams and Matt Lucas, the creators of the BBC-produced show "Little Britain" have apologized for their prior use of blackface sketches, saying they now “regret” playing characters of other races.

Wailliams and Lucas both tweeted, “we have both spoken publicly in recent years of our regret that we played characters of other races. Once again we want to make it clear that it was wrong & we are very sorry.”

https://deadline.com/2020/06/little-britain-creators-apologize-blackface-sketches-bbc-1202958618/