Hulu Removes Episode Of Golden Girls Due To Spa Treatment Mud Mask

The Hollywood Reporter posted on Twitter, “Hulu has removed an episode of ‘The Golden Girls’ that shows Betty White and Rue McClanahan in blackface.”

Except that 1988 episode titled “Mixed Blessing” had two of the actresses wearing mud on their faces as a facial treatment, not in blackface.

According to The Hill, actresses Betty White and Rue McClanahan have the mud on their faces. In the episode, a character’s white son was going to marry a black woman.

“This is mud on our faces,” White said in the Season 3 episode when the black family arrives. “We’re not really black.”

Hulu’s decision to pull the episode is consistent with how many networks are handling past depictions of blackface in blackface.

Actress Tina Fey has asked that four episodes of “30 Rock” be pulled from NBCUniversal’s streaming service because blackface was used, according to The Hill.

Hulu has also removed three episodes of the show “Scrubs” because it also included blackface, The Hill reported.

Roxane Gay, a black author, criticized Hulu’s decision on Twitter.
“That Golden Girls episode isn’t blackface,” Gay tweeted. “What the hell?”

“Removing this episode is weird, counterproductive and stupid,” Gay said. “It diminishes the effort to actually end racism. It’s just so dumb.”

Black author Erica Williams Simon also was critical of Hulu’s decision, according to People.

“First of all, they were in mud masks not blackface,” Simon tweeted. “And second of all, in what world does ‘Stop killing us.’ sound like ‘Please remove episodes of Golden Girls’? I didn’t see that ask on anyone’s protest sign…”

“To be clear: I’m not ‘attacking’ Hulu,” Simon stated. “I would just hate for the seriousness of this moment and movement to get lost in symbolic (and sometimes silly) overcorrections. Impact on real lives should be the measure of any change worthy of a PR push.”