All five seasons of Jim Henson’s The Muppet Show took the stage at Disney + on Friday, and viewers, young and old, quickly saw a content warning before 18 episodes of the series. “This program includes negative representations and / or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong at the time and are wrong now ”, says the warning. “Instead of removing this content, we want to recognize its harmful impact, learn from it and start conversations to create a more inclusive future together.”
Adds content warning: “Disney is committed to creating stories with inspirational and aspirational themes that reflect the rich diversity of human experience around the world” The episodes preceded by the disclaimer include those presented by Debbie Harry, Joel Gray , Jim Nabors, Johnny Cash, Alan Arkin, Kenny Rogers, Steve Martin, Peter Sellers, Cleo Laine, James Coco, Spike Milligan, Crystal Gayle, Beverly Sills, Jonathan Winters, James Coburn, Joan Baez, Wally Boag and Marty Feldman.
Although the streaming platform does not specify which “negative representations” each episode was flagged for, a superficial turn The Muppet ShowThe race, which aired between 1976 and 1981, reveals Johnny Cash performing in front of a Confederate flag, Jonathan Winters impersonating a Native American chant while wearing a headdress, and a subplot in which Arab Muppets drill for oil in the Kenny Roger’s dressing room among others, similarly dated stereotypes.
Interestingly, as Weekly entertainment points, two of the show’s 120 episodes are missing from Disney + all together: those featured by Brooke Shields and Muppet Show writer Chris Langham. Although the segments for several episodes were edited due to music rights issues, EW attributes the absence of the Langham episode to his 2007 conviction for possession of child pornography.