When the Emmy-winning period drama “Mad Men” airs again later this month, an episode featuring one of the main characters appearing in blackface will be preceded by a disclaimer, the studio behind the series said this week. .
In a statement Wednesday, Lionsgate shared the disclaimer to be attached to the third season episode, “My Old Kentucky Home,” when the series hits Amazon’s IMDb TV broadcast platform on July 15.
“This episode contains disturbing images related to race in America,” the title card will read. “One of the characters is shown in black face as part of an episode that shows how common racism was in the United States in 1963.”
The title card will continue to read:
By relying on historical authenticity, the producers of the series are committed to exposing the injustices and inequalities within our society that continue to this day so that we can examine even the most painful parts of our history to reflect on who we are today and who we want to become. Therefore, we are presenting the original episode in its entirety. “
“My Old Kentucky Home” features advertising executive Roger Sterling (John Slattery) with a black face as he performs his wife Jane’s title track (Peyton List) at a country club party.
Party guests are shown laughing at the performance, with the notable exceptions of Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) and Don Draper (Jon Hamm), who asks his wife Betty (January Jones) if they can leave.
Sterling at one point says, “I did this at home for her with a little bit of shoe polish. She thought it was a scream.
The Lionsgate announcement comes when producers of other high-profile series, including “30 Rock,” “Community,” and “Scrubs,” have put out episodes with black-faced characters from the broadcast and syndication. (All three comedies aired on NBC, a unit of NBC News’ parent company NBCUniversal.)
The film and television industries are considering issues of diversity, inclusion and representation amid nationwide protests against systemic racism following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
In their statement, Lionsgate confirmed that “Mad Men” broadcasts will air this fall on the AMC cable channel, where the show originally aired from 2007 to 2015.
