Adult Swim Removes Episodes of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Boondocks and The Shivering Truth Due to ‘Cultural Sensitivities’
Adult Swim
Adult Swim has removed episodes of three animated series — Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Boondocks, and The Shivering Truth — from HBO Max and its own website over concerns about the offensive nature of their content. The network released a statement on Tuesday noting that some of these episodes have been “permanently retired due to cultural sensitivities.”
One of the missing Aqua Teen Hunger Force episodes is titled “Shake Like Me,” which parodies John Howard Griffin’s 1961 book Black Like Me. The episode features a talking milkshake named Shake acting stereotypically black after being bitten by a radioactive Black man.
Meanwhile, an episode of The Boondocks titled “The Story of Jimmy Rebel,” which centers on a racist country singer, was also taken down from streaming platforms. An episode of the stop-motion series The Shivering Truth, titled “The Ogled Inklings,” has has been “temporarily rested” due “to sensitivity around current events,” according to Adult Swim. That episode features a woman giving birth to a “dirty pig,” who’s actually a police officer.
“When Adult Swim transitions series to a new platform, we determine what episodes are selected through creative and cultural filters and our standards and practices policies,” a representative for the network said in a statement. “Oftentimes these decisions are made in collaboration with the show’s creators.”
The practice of removing offensive episodes of comedy shows has become common amid the Black Lives Matter movement. In recent months, controversial episodes of The Office, 30 Rock, Scrubs and Community have been taken off various streaming services. In all of those instances, it was due to jokes involving the use of blackface.
As we reported last month, HBO Max put a disclaimer in front of Mel Brooks’ 1974 classic Blazing Saddles, warning viewers of the film’s racially-driven humor.
The Daily Beast was first to report the news of the missing Adult Swim episodes.
