Disney+ Says Some Episodes of “The Muppets” Are Offensive

Disney+ just added all five seasons of “The Muppet Show,”  along with a warning about possible OFFENSIVE CONTENT.

Remember, “The Muppet Show” aired from 1977 to 1981 . . . a time when we were less sensitive about how we portrayed certain people.  And Disney says the show includes some, quote, “negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures.”

The Disclaimer appears before 18 episodes says, quote, “These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now.  Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”

The website Vulture breaks it down pretty well:

While the streaming platform doesn’t specify which “negative depictions” each episode has been flagged for, a cursory spin through The Muppet Show’s run, 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 Kenny Rogers’s dressing room, among other, similarly dated stereotypes.

There are 118 episodes of “Muppet Show” on Disney+, even though there were 120 in the original run.  But the two missing episodes have nothing to do with offensive stereotypes.

They’re both from Season 5.  One of them had BROOKE SHIELDS as the guest star, and apparently it’s gone because of music rights issues.

The other featured British comedian Chris Langham, who was convicted for possession of child pornography in 2007.  So there’s that.