Adult Swim "Permanently Retired" Episodes of Boondocks and Aqua Teen Because of Racial Content

Adult Swim has "permanently retired" an episode of The Boondocks and an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force as well as "temporarily rested" an episode of The Shivering Truth. The episodes are not currently available on either the Adult Swim website or HBO Max due to "cultural insensitivities." When HBO Max, which also hosts Adult Swim content, launched in May 2020, it didn't take fans long to realize that episodes were missing. The Adult Swim Reddit page has a user pointing out on HBO Max's launch date that episodes of The Boondocks that were once banned are on the service, except for season 3, episode 4 "The Story of Jimmy Rebel." The Aqua Teen Reddit page has a user complaining back in June about the lack of season 6, episode 2 "Shake Like Me." The Aqua Teen episode was reportedly reinstated back in August, according to another Reddit user, but is currently not available. A representative for HBO Max told The Daily Beast in an article published on Tuesday that “neither of those episodes are part of our streaming deals.” Variety reports that the "Shake Like Me" episode was uploaded "due to a software error and was promptly removed." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/29/following-splash-mountain-ride-redesign-some-call-for-disney-to-change-jungle-cruise-next"] Adult Swim takes the blame and says that the removed episodes don't line up with their current "policies." "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," the Adult Swim representative told The Daily Beast. "Oftentimes these decisions are made in collaboration with the show’s creators.” The Aqua Teen and Boondocks episodes are now "permanently retired due to cultural sensitivities." For example, the episode of The Boondocks that was retired features the character Uncle Ruckus partnering with a racist country singer. The Daily Beast contacted the creator of The Boondocks, Aaron McGruder, but a representative for him declined to comment. McGruder recently signed up for a two-season revival of The Boondocks that will air exclusively on HBO Max. HBO Max and the Adult Swim website has incorrectly labeled The Boondocks season 3 to hide the missing episode. Episode 5 is now listed as episode 4, episode 6 is now listed as episode 5, etc. HBO Max has all of Aqua Teen's episodes listed correctly, and South Park, which has episodes missing from HBO Max because of potential terrorist threats, also has their episodes listed correctly. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-adult-cartoon-tv-series&captions=true"] The Adult Swim series The Shivering Truth has also had an episode removed from the Adult Swim website. The Daily Beast says the episode that was removed featured "a pregnant woman who gives birth to a police officer, who is then called a 'dirty pig.'" Adult Swim told The Daily Beast that that episode will "be returning to the site and included when the series debuts on HBO Max." They did not specify when that will be. HBO Max and Adult Swim are both owned by WarnerMedia, which previously received praise for how they handled controversial content by not editing or hiding it. WarnerMedia reissued a Tom and Jerry Blu-ray as recently as March 2020 that comes with an unskippable, 45-second content warning that plays before the main menu about the racism in the cartoons and how editing them "would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed." Two months after that Tom and Jerry Blu-ray came out and the murder of George Floyd has sparked a new policy in Hollywood regarding controversial content. An episode of The Office had blackface content edited out and the Dungeons and Dragons episode of Community was removed altogether. Other TV shows such as 30 Rock, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Scrubs have also had episodes removed due to blackface. Disney also announced plans to remodel the Splash Mountain ride at their theme parks after petitions from some Disney fans showed up online. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN.

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