Kenya Barris, creator of “black-ish,” announced that a politically charged episode of the show that was aired in 2018 by ABC is now available on Hulu.
“I can’t wait for everyone to finally see the episode for themselves,” Barris wrote on Instagram on Monday, adding that he hopes the episode inspires some “much needed conversation.”
The episode, titled “Please, Baby, Please,” was originally scheduled to air in the fourth season of the Emmy-nominated show in February 2018, but has not yet been publicly released.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the episode features the character of Anthony Anderson, Dre, reading “Please, Baby, Please” – a children’s book by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Spike Lee and his wife, producer Tonya Lewis Lee – to his son, Devante .
While reading the book, Dre includes a year after the election commentary on his feelings about President Donald Trump, referring to Trump as “The Shady King.” In another scene, Dre debates whether athletes should take a knee during the national anthem as a form of protest against police brutality and racial injustice. The episode also touches on a 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., In which a counter-protester was killed.
“We were one year after the election and came to the end of a year that had left us, like many Americans, with the state of our country and worried about its future,” Barris wrote on Instagram. “Those feelings streamed down the page, 22 minutes of television where I was, and still am, incredibly proud.
At the time, an ABC spokeswoman told Deadline that the network decided to cancel the episode due to inconsistent “creative differences.”
However, the stars of the cast have spoken out about the network’s decision in the years since, with Tracee Ellis Ross calling the ABC movement “terrible” and Anderson lamenting that Barris “had his blood, sweat and tears” given the episode, only to have it blamed at the last minute, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Barris told outlet that he had tried to include ABC’s suggested cuts in the episode, but was ultimately unhappy with the end result.
“What it ended up with, and I think the network would agree with, was not a true representation of what we intended to do,” Barris said. “Because if it was, we would show it.”
Amid a nationwide calculation of racism in the wake of George Floyd’s death, “Please, Baby, Please,” has found a new home on Hulu, which was bought last year by The Walt Disney Co., making it is a business sibling of ABC when it was purchased.
“I asked Walt Disney Television to remake to make the episode available,” Barris wrote. “Recognition of the importance of this moment listened and agreed.”
Neither Hulu nor ABC responded on Tuesday at the request of NBC News. However, Barris thanked ABC in his post for “let this moment happen” and the cast “black-ish” for never scaring hard conversations. “
“Black-ish” is currently on four Primetime Emmy Awards and will return this fall for season 7.
