Over the summer of 2020, as Black Lives Matters protests were held across the nation, people starting remembering some sketchy things about popular comedy shows that were only a decade or so old: An alarming number of them featured blackface jokes. 30 Rock. Scrubs. Community. All made jokes in which white characters applied burnt cork (or some substitute) to their faces. These episodes were subsequently pulled from streamers, often at the creators’ request.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was another guilty show. But they went farther than most. As per Deadline, the latest episode of the long-running FX show addressed the controversy directly in their latest episode.
The show did two episodes featuring blackface. The first, from 2010, entitled “Dee Reynolds: Shaping America’s Youth,” finds the gang shooting scenes from a fifth Lethal Weapon, with Glen Howerton as Mel Gibson and Rob McElhinney as Danny Glover, his face painted black. They did it again in a later episode, where they film Lethal Weapon 6.
Those episodes were taken down a year-and-a-half ago, and in the latest episode, entitled “The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 7,” they tried to make amends, as per Deadline:
Mac acknowledges he made a mistake on Lethal Weapon 5, while Dennis and Charlie remind Mac and Dee that they did blackface as the Murtaughs in 6 too. The solution is that they hire a local Black actor to play Murtaugh this time.
Meanwhile, a real fifth Lethal Weapon is allegedly en route, directed by Mel Gibson himself.
(Via Deadline)
