"America's Next Top Paddy's Billboard Model Contest," one of five It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia episodes pulled from streaming in June 2020 due to their usage of blackface, brownface and/or yellowface, is back on Hulu.
The third episode of the long-running sitcom's fourth season has been quietly re-added to Hulu. The other four pulled episodes -- "Dee Reynolds: Shaping America's Youth," "The Gang Recycles Their Trash," "The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 6" and "Dee Day" -- are still unavailable to stream on Hulu, though can be purchased by buying their respective seasons on YouTube. ("Dee Day" was also excluded from the Season 14 DVD release.)
The offending subplot in "America's Next Top Paddy's Billboard Model Contest" involves Dee and Charlie producing viral videos to promote Paddy's Pub after her offer to model for the bar's billboard ad is rejected by The Gang. Dee's "characters" for these videos are all ridiculously dated and offensive ethnic stereotypes: the drunk Irishwoman "Crazy Paddy," the sassy Latina "Martina Martinez" and the buck-toothed Asian "Taiwan Tammy." Dee wears brownface and yellowface for the latter two characters. Charlie calls out her act as being extremely racist as he tries to "spice up" their videos with random acts of violence, while Dee doesn't see how what she's doing is any different from what Saturday Night Live does. It's an attempt at satire and of a piece with the show's main characters being all-around awful people who are punished for being awful, but it seemed as if Hulu, FX and/or the show's creative team decided they felt it went too far when it was pulled last year.
"The Gang Recycles Their Trash" and "Dee Day" also featured Dee's Martina Martinez and Taiwan Tammy characters. Why "America's Next Top Paddy's Billboard Model Contest" was re-added to Hulu but the other two episodes with similar content weren't is unclear, though the fact that "America's Next Top Paddy's Billboard Model Contest" is the oldest of the episodes in question might make a difference in terms of how comfortable those involved feel about addressing its content. The other two pulled episodes, "Dee Reynolds: Shaping America's Youth" and "The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 6," featured the usage of blackface as The Gang attempted to portray Roger Murtaugh in their homemade Lethal Weapon sequels.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has been renewed for two more seasons. Season 15 began filming this summer and will air on FXX at a date yet to be announced.
Source: Hulu