Created by American puppeteer Jim Henson, The Muppet Show began airing nearly five decades ago. The variety show included a mix of puppets like Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, alongside a wide variety of celebrities. To the show’s credit, the majority of The Muppet Show remains timeless. That is, however, with a handful of exceptions.
Rather than completely removing each episode with questionable content, Disney+ released the show's five seasons in tandem with a content warning label. The disclaimer reads, “This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now.” The 12-second unskippable warning was previously seen as an addition to numerous animated classics available on the platform, including Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp and Swiss Family Robinson, due to cultural insensitivity and racial stereotypes. For the same reasons, several episodes of The Muppet Show have now done the same.
One of the most culturally insensitive episodes comes from the show’s third season. Guest-starring the late Spike Milligan, the episode depicts more than a few highly offensive stereotypes. Set to the tune of “It’s a Small World,” one musical number has Milligan undergoing multiple costume changes, including one where he wears a stereotypical Chinese outfit and mocks the Chinese language. In another moment, Milligan uses a Nazi-style salute.
Further adding to an episode brimming with cultural stereotypes, the last couple of minutes feature Mulligan wearing a Native American headdress. He then proceeds to speak in broken English, painting an incredibly cartoonish portrait. As a whole, the episode feels widely out of place considering the good-natured content The Muppet Show was known for producing. While the episode is still available for American subscribers, it was deemed too inappropriate and scrubbed from British screens entirely.
In a similar fashion to Milligan’s episode, James Coburn takes part in a racially insensitive sketch during the show’s fifth season. In the final musical sequence, he admits that he doesn’t want to do a cowboy sketch, opting to do “something a little more enlightened.” During the skit, The Muppet Show all but confirms surface-level stereotypes are not only factual, but there isn’t a need to learn about cultures other than one’s own. Perhaps the jokes weren't meant maliciously at the time, but that doesn’t make it any less uncomfortable to watch.
The Muppet Show certainly contains its fair share of racial insensitivity and harmful cultural stereotypes. Steve Martin, Joel Grey, Sylvester Stallone, Kenny Rogers, Johnny Cash and Crystal Gayle are just a few other celebrities that star in sketches that warrant a disclaimer. The Muppet Show deserves to be remembered as an incredibly impactful show, but that doesn't mean its troubled history should be glossed over.