NME Music News, Reviews, Videos, Galleries, Tickets and Blogs | NME.COM
Matt Lucas and David Walliams’ sketch comedy shows Little Britain and Come Fly With Me have been removed from Netflix, BBC iPlayer and Britbox over their use of blackface.
In light of the Black Lives Matter protests and global conversations about systemic racism, the TV series have been taken down.
“There’s a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer, which we regularly review,” a BBC spokesperson said in a statement. “Times have changed since Little Britain first aired so it is not currently available on BBC iPlayer.”
The sentiment was echoed by a spokesperson for BritBox, the subscription service prioritising British boxsets, “Times have changed since Little Britain first aired, so it is not currently available on BritBox. Come Fly With Me has not been available on the service for six months.”
In Little Britain, David Walliams plays spa-goer Desiree Devere while in blackface, and both Walliams and Lucas played characters Taaj, Moses Beacon and Omar Baba in Come Fly With Me in caricatural makeup.
Earlier this year, The Sun reported Matt Lucas and David Walliams had been offered a £3million deal with Netflix to revive Little Britain.
In 2017, Lucas said he would never revive Little Britain, explaining: “Little Britain is about 15 to 16 years old now, we all got old. And I think you would do things differently now.
“I think if we brought it back the way we did it then you would upset a lot of people, but if you did it differently it wouldn’t be Little Britain, so that show has to exist there.”
The duo aired their first Little Britain sketch in 12 years earlier this year for the BBC‘s The Big Night In fundraiser.
The post ‘Little Britain’ and ‘Come Fly With Me’ removed from streaming services over use of blackface appeared first on NME Music News, Reviews, Videos, Galleries, Tickets and Blogs | NME.COM.
