Actress Tina Fey asked NBCUniversal to take some episodes of her show 30 Rock out of circulation because of the use of blackface.
Fey wrote a letter to the studio highlighting four episodes from three different seasons of 30 Rock that feature blackface and asked that they be removed from streaming platforms. She and the show’s other creator, Robert Carlock, also apologized for using blackface in the series.
“As we strive to do the work and do better in regards to race in America, we believe that these episodes featuring actors in race-changing makeup are best taken out of circulation. I understand now that ‘intent’ is not a free pass for white people to use these images,” Fey wrote in the letter, which was obtained by Variety on Monday.
“I apologize for pain they have caused. Going forward, no comedy-loving kid needs to stumble on these tropes and be stung by their ugliness. I thank NBCUniversal for honoring this request,” she added.
A source from NBC told Variety that the network has agreed to pull the episodes and has already stripped some of them from Hulu and Amazon. The episodes have also been removed from the Google Play store and will no longer air as reruns on the network.
Several shows have been called into question over the use of blackface. The classic film Gone with the Wind was pulled from HBO Max and reuploaded with an introduction providing the historical and racial context of the film. Television host Jimmy Kimmel has also taken a summer break from his show following outrage over his use of blackface during an episode of The Man Show from earlier in his career.
Protests against police brutality and racial injustice have been taking place throughout the United States following the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died after an officer knelt on his neck for several minutes during an arrest in Minneapolis.
