All episodes of AMC’s “Mad Men” will be available to stream again later this month, including an episode featuring a character in blackface.
On Wednesday, Lionsgate released a statement explaining its decision not to remove “My Old Kentucky Home” from season 3 of the “Mad Men” catalog, despite recent deletions of black-face episodes from various other series, including “30 Rock “,” Community “and” Scrubs “.
The statement provided to the Los Angeles Times will be doubled as a disclaimer attached to the episode when the period drama is moved to Amazon’s IMDb TV 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.
“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 present the original episode in its entirety. “
The third episode of the third season of “Mad Men” sees Roger Sterling (John Slattery) wear a black face while serenading Jane (Peyton List) with an interpretation of “My Old Kentucky Home” at a Derby party at a club in countryside. At one point Sterling comments, “I did this at home for her with a little bit of shoe polish. She thought it was a scream.
While most of the audience laughs at the performance, Don Draper (Jon Hamm) is visibly uncomfortable and asks his wife, Betty (January Jones), if they can leave.
“My Old Kentucky Home” is one of several black-faced TV installments to be re-examined in recent weeks. Last month, Tina Fey asked NBC to put out four episodes of “30 Rock” with a black face for streaming and syndication, and issued a controversial apology “for the pain they have caused.”
A number of other series, including “Scrubs,” “Community,” “The Office,” and “The Golden Girls,” soon followed suit, eliminating multiple episodes for black-faced concerns. However, the practice of removing black-face scenes has generated sharp online scrutiny.
Rather than erasing episodes as if they never happened, many have argued that presenting original content with a contextual note, to the “Mad Men,” is a more productive approach.
“Mad Men” will be available to watch on IMDb TV for free starting July 15, as well as on AMC in the fall.
