Kenya Barris/Instagram
,
Black-ish shot an episode that was so controversial, ABC refused to air it. Now, two years, it is finally seeing the light of day, I mean, the light of TV screens. That is because Executive Producer Kenya Barris convinced Hulu to stream it.
In November 2017, we made an episode of “black-ish” entitled “Please, Baby, Please.” We were one year post-election and coming to the end of a year that left us, like many Americans, grappling with the state of our country and anxious about its future. Those feelings poured onto the page, becoming 22 minutes of television that I was, and still am, incredibly proud of. “Please, Baby, Please” didn’t make it to air that season and, while much has been speculated about its contents, the episode has never been seen publicly… until now.
I’m excited to share that “Please, Baby, Please” is now available on Hulu. Following the re-airing of “Juneteenth” and “Hope;’ I asked Walt Disney Television to revisit making the episode available. Recognizing the importance of this moment, they listened and agreed.
I cannot wait for everyone to finally see the episode for themselves and, as was the case nearly three years ago, we hope it inspires some much-needed conversation — not only about what we were grappling with then or how it led to where we are now, but conversations about where we want our country to go moving forward and, most importantly, how we get there together.
Thank you to ABC Entertainment for allowing this moment to happen. And thank you to the entire “black-ish” family for never shying away from tough conversations, making telling stories like this possible. – Kenya Barris
The episode was reportedly pulled because Dre (Anthony Anderson) and his oldest son Junior (Marcus Scribner) discussed kneeling at football games. However, that is barely a blip in the episode.
It is a rainy night, and Dre’s baby son can’t sleep because of the scary noises. Therefore, the dad soothes the infant to sleep by telling him the story of Donald Trump’s first year in office. One by one, the rest of his children (minus the oldest who is in college) join him and Bow (Tracee Ellis Ross) in bed and they discuss what the last year has been like.
It is such a powerful episode that it winds up being more relevant in 2020 than it was then. I think it is better that it was held until now than if it aired in February 2018. In fact, I think everyone, whether a fan of the show or not, should watch it.
It is amazing with all of the sh!t that Trump has done since then, the emotions are still the same. As much as Trump as tried to extinguish Barack Obama’s light, he hasn’t been able to do it.
There are episodes that live on in infamy because of the topics they covered. This is one of those episodes. Therefore, I am telling you to watch it. Especially, since we are getting ready to vote in less than three months.
