Little Britain removed from streaming platforms

Impressionists can somewhat get away with it, no one bats an eyelid that Jan Ravens does a very good impression of Diane Abbott.

There was the character in The Simpsons that got retired a year or two back.

Of course it was - Ant & Dec were doing it for Saturday Night Takeaway in 2003. It was prime-time Saturday night entertainment. Could you imagine the evisceration they'd get if they did it today?

Yes, Hank Azaria said they'd came to a mutual decision on the show that he'd no longer voice the character, Apu, an Indian shopowner.

Apu? Matt Groening said last year that he’ll stay on, but with a new voice actor.

EDIT: Beaten to it.

Apu was more problematic because he was an obvious stereotype. It wasn't just the fact that he was portrayed by a white man.

Bo Selecta is an odd one because it was the showcase of one person and the concept was that he played all the parts. You wouldn't expect other comedians or actors to come in and play the characters, everyone else who appeared was just a guest.

So on that sort of show should there be no impersonations of people who aren't the same ethnicity as the star?

And how far should that go,should he not have impersonated Judy Finnegan because she's a women or Lorraine Kelly because she's Scottish? If that steries was made today would he only play Avid Merrion, the bear and Richard Madeley ?

Interesting you use the word 'stereotype'. They were very open about him being a stereotype and he's not the only one; they even had a joke in a 1996 episode which revolved around a bowling tournament where one of the teams was called 'The Stereotypes' and featured the likes of Willie (angry Scotsman), Luigi (Italian chef), and Cletus ('redneck' character). Just to bring this full circle to Apu, he tells Homer in the episode "they begged me to join their team".

Begs the question - since they were all voiced by white Americans, is Willie racist? They use a Scottish accent despite not being Scottish, and the stereotype of the 'angry Scot'. Is Luigi racist? They use a ridiculously over the top Italian accent despite not being Italian and his surname is 'Risotto'. Are they racist too or is it 'less bad' because those characters are white (well, yellow)?

To be fair, I don't think you hear many complaints about the people he played who were black, but their race didn't come into the character (Craig David, Mel B, Michael Jackson), it's the ones that were racial sterotypes that people really object to (Oprah Winfrey and Trisha Goddard).

I don't think people would have objected to him playing gay people either if he didn't have them constantly threatening to bum everyone (Elton John) or walking round with a permanent limp wrist (Will Young).

Let me be clear: It's not racist because those characters are white.

As I said a few pages ago, the argument that everyone is equally fair game for mockery can only be justified if everyone has equal privilege to begin with. If you mock everyone equally when some have less privilege, you're still knocking them down further than the rest.

What about drag then? Perfectly acceptable by most people today. Who’s to say whether in a decades time things like Ru Paul’s Drag Race will still have their legitimacy.

Could the argument not be made that what drag acts do by their very nature is similar to white people imitating ethnic minorities.

Let me be clear and say I’m not trying to justify any of these things by comparing them to Drag nor am I trying to tarnish drag with the same brush as blacking up. I’m just trying to foresee how these changing attitudes will change further in the future.

Not gone through the detail of the thread, apologies if already mentioned. but it's worth noting that Apple Services (iTunes that was) still have all their 'Little Britain' content available to purchase (at the time of writing), so it's not been removed from everywhere.