"Satire and the principle of historicism? No, haven't heard of it!" — or a tale of how, in light of #BLM, Hollywood silently abandons its own and no longer desirable creations.

In light of recent events, the West is stubbornly trying to renounce many elements and manifestations of racism and intolerance in its culture, but simply making entire episodes or films disappear from discourse is impossible. Let's recall the 10 most striking examples of what and how retrogressively happened with television and cinema recently in connection with the #BLM movement.

Hamilton

• What was done?

It wasn't removed, but the musical and Lin-Manuel Miranda himself faced harsh criticism from the Twitter community and briefly became the target of another wave of Cancel Culture.

• Why?

Can you believe it? For romanticizing slave owners. The musical itself repeatedly addresses the themes of abolishing slavery, almost all the main characters (except one!) are traditionally played by racial minorities, and the musical isn't really about that anyway – but the boycott attempt still happened.

Gone with the Wind

• What was done?

On June 10, the film was removed from the HBO Max library, but after some time the service reconsidered and returned it to the catalog.

• Why?

For romanticizing slavery, of course – even the return to the service was accompanied by preliminary comments about political correctness and condemnation of many moments shown in the film. The result – at the beginning of June, the film ranked first in the chart of the most popular films on Amazon, fifth in the Apple's iTunes film chart, and even started a dialogue about whether political correctness can go too far.

The Office

• What was done?

Netflix completely cut one scene from the episode "Dwight Christmas" (Season 9, Episode 9). After the series moves to the NBCUniversal platform called "Peacock" in 2021, the edited episode will be used.

• Why?

In the mentioned episode, the title character organizes a themed celebration of Dutch Christmas, which leads to one of the white characters almost dressing up in a costume of Zwarte Piet, the folkloric black companion of Sinterklaas. Fun fact – at festivals in the Netherlands, this character is traditionally played by a white actor.

Community

• What was done?

On June 26, Netflix and Hulu, with the consent of Sony, removed the fourteenth episode of the second season titled "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" from their platforms.

• Why?

In the removed episode, a character named Ben Chang comes to a Dungeons & Dragons game session with his entire body painted black, claiming he is actually a Drow (dark elf), while the series' characters themselves call his act a "hate crime."

Scrubs

• What was done?

Hulu removed three episodes from the platform: "My Friend the Doctor" (Season 3, Episode 8), "My Jiggly Balls" (Season 5, Episode 4), and "My Chopped Liver" (Season 5, Episode 17).

• Why?

In two of these episodes, characters appear in a caricatured image of a character played by African-American actor Donald Faison; the third episode includes mutual cross-dressing of white and black characters into each other.

30 Rock

• What was done?

At the request of the creators, Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, and with the approval of NBCUniversal, four episodes were removed from all digital platforms: "Believe in the Stars" (Season 3, Episode 2), "Live Show" (Season 5, Episode 2), "Christmas Attack Zone" (Season 5, Episode 10), and "Live from Studio 6H" (Season 6, Episode 19).

• Why?

In three of the episodes described above, characters played by Jane Krakowski and John Hamm appeared in blackface. Regarding the fourth, it's not so obvious – "Live Show" has a storyline clearly alluding to the theory considered racist about Barack Obama's true birthplace.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

• What was done?

Five episodes were removed from the streaming service Hulu, although they are still available for digital rental: "America's Next Top Paddy's Billboard Model Contest" (Season 4, Episode 3), "Dee Reynolds: Shaping America's Youth" (Season 6, Episode 9), "The Gang Recycles Their Trash" (Season 8, Episode 2), "The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 6" (Season 9, Episode 9), and "Dee Day" (Season 14, Episode 3).

• Why?

In two of these episodes, the character played by actress Kaitlin Olson transforms into Puerto Rican reporter Martina Martinez to mock white people's stereotypes about people of color; in the last episode, she forces the rest of the gang to dress up as Martina Martinez. Also, some episodes feature attempts to remake the Lethal Weapon film series, in which Danny Glover's character is played by a white actor in blackface.

South Park

• What was done?

HBO Max removed five episodes from broadcasts: "Super Best Friends" (Season 5), "Cartoon Wars Part I" and "Cartoon Wars Part II" (Season 10), as well as the episodes "200" and "201" (Season 14).

• Why?

All these episodes contained depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, which are considered idolatry in Islam. Interestingly, the controversial situation with these episodes has been going on for years and has led to threats against the lives of Matt Stone and Trey Parker, and Comedy Central had already removed the episodes "200" and "201" from broadcast immediately after they aired. The #BLM movement specifically influenced the disappearance of the episodes from HBO Max broadcasts.

Little Britain

• What was done?

The show was completely removed from the BBC iPlayer and BritBox systems.

• Why?

The main reason – in attempts to satirize British society, actors David Walliams and Matt Lucas quite often dressed up as black and Asian women; the creators were also accused of transphobia and pandering to the spread of prejudice.

Cops

• What was done?

The show was completely canceled in early June, after 32 seasons. This was despite the premiere of the 33rd season being scheduled for June 15 before the unrest.

• Why?

The show was criticized for romanticizing the image of an incorruptible and heroic police officer, especially contrasting with the behavior of real police officer Derek Chauvin during the arrest of George Floyd. The show's cancellation also occurred against the backdrop of protests calling for defunding the police.

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