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A 2018 episode of Black-ish that was notoriously shelved has finally been released.
The episode, entitled Please, Baby, Please, was mysteriously removed from the show’s new season, leading to a confrontation in which the show’s creator Kenya Barris left his long-term relationship with Disney.
As The Hollywood Reporter states, the episode sees Dre Johnson (played by Anthony Anderson) telling his infant son a bedtime story, which was part-fairytale and part-real, discussing Donald Trump‘s presidency, the Charlottesville attacks and more.
“When you’re putting a baby to sleep, you’re trying to soothe whatever anxieties they’re having,” Barris said of the episode at the time. “So, this was about me trying to pat the butt of the country and soothe people.”
The episode is now finally available to watch, along with the rest of Black-ish, on the streaming service Hulu.
— kenya barris (@funnyblackdude) August 10, 2020
In a new statement, Barris said: “In November 2017, we made an episode of Black-ish entitled Please, Baby, Please. We were one year post-election and coming to the end of a year that left us, like many Americans, grappling with the state of our country and anxious about its future.
“Those feelings poured onto the page, becoming 22 minutes of television that I was, and still am, incredibly proud of. Please, Baby, Please didn’t make it to air that season and, while much has been speculated about its contents, the episode has never been seen publicly… until now.
“I’m excited to share that Please, Baby, Please is now available on Hulu. Following the re-airing of Juneteenth and Hope, I asked Walt Disney Television to revisit making the episode available. Recognising the importance of this moment, they listened and agreed.
He concluded: “I cannot wait for everyone to finally see the episode for themselves and, as was the case nearly three years ago, we hope it inspires some much-needed conversation — not only about what we were grappling with then or how it led to where we are now, but conversations about where we want our country to go moving forward and, most importantly, how we get there together.
“Thank you to ABC Entertainment for allowing this moment to happen. And thank you to the entire Black-ish family for never shying away from tough conversations, making telling stories like this possible.”
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