Paramount CEO: We Won’t Pull Historical Content With ‘Different Sensibilities’
By: Stephen Silver
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Paramount CEO: We Won’t Pull Historical Content With ‘Different Sensibilities’
Most major media companies have staked their futures on streaming services with massive troves of legacy content. But in doing so, they often find themselves with the dilemma of what to do when some of that content features material that would be considered racist, sexist, or otherwise offensive by modern standards.
The chief executive of one such company said this week that they won’t be pulling such content.
ob Bakish, the CEO of Paramount Global, said in an interview that the company will not be getting rid of content just because it does not conform to modern-day sensibilities.
“By definition, you have some things that were made in a different time and reflect different sensibilities,” Bakish said, according to The Guardian . “I don’t believe in censoring art that was made historically, that’s probably a mistake. It’s all on demand – you don’t have to watch anything you don’t want to.”
Paramount Global owns Paramount+ , as well as SHOWTIME and Pluto TV . Bakish and other Paramount brass have been making the rounds in the British press this week as Paramount+ prepares to launch in the U.K. and Ireland on Wednesday.
Different streaming services have taken different approaches to deal with potentially offensive content. Many have left the movies and shows on their services as is, while others have added disclaimer cards prior to the presentation, as HBO Max did with “ Blazing Saddles, ” while otherwise not making any adjustments to the content. In one famous example, HBO Max added a video disclaimer to its presentation of “Gone With the Wind.”
In other cases, episodes of series featuring blackface or other offensive content have been pulled from services, such as when Hulu removed episodes of “30 Rock” in 2020. This was done at the behest of that show’s creator, Tina Fey. Around the same time, Netflix removed some episodes of “Little Britain,” for similar reasons.
Meanwhile, the historically controversial 1946 Disney movie “ Song of the South ” has long been unavailable, and that didn’t change with the launch of Disney+ .
In the interview, Bakish did not mention any movies or shows specifically. One example of such a film, which was made by Paramount and is available to stream on Paramount+, is 1961’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” While a film classic, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” has been widely denounced over the years for actor Mickey Rooney’s caricature of an Asian-American character, Mr. Yunioshi.
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Speaking as a person who loves the movies, I am totally against making changes just to satisfy infantile sensibilities or political censorship (although it should be understandable why I will not get up on a soapbox about that) and as well I would join in with the movie directors who opposed colourizing B&W movies. If the streaming services want to post a warning about content, at least that does not interfere with the original creativity of the movie. For example, taking into consideration what's happening today it would not surprise me if superantiracist Americans would require the deletion of Al Jolson singing "Mammy" from The Jazz Singer and The Jolson Story. Although I feel that Mickey Rooney's depiction of an Asian landlord in Breakfast at Tiffany's is a disgusting exaggeration, if the writer and director felt it was necessary for some reason, then leave it. Making changes in a movie, which I consider to be a work of art, is tantamount to painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa.
I agree. 100%. You start down that road and there is no end to the shit you could end up censoring. Don’t like it? Don’t watch it.
These movies can be a fascinating tool for examining our past. Watching “Birth of a Nation,” for example, isn’t going to make you racist, but it could give you some valuable insight into the way more of our society used to think.
A less obvious example is “Gone With the Wind.” I plan on making my kids watch it soon, because I have a feeling that one day soon, they might not be able to.
I even wish Disney would make “Song of the South” available. I understand why they don’t, but I still think it would be educational for modern audiences to see. And at least it’s their movie to hold back, so they have a more personal sense of regret over its content.
I can still remember from when I was a little kid that Uncle Remus was just a loveable old man and his existence in Song of the South did not turn me into a racist.
Removing a couple of episodes of offensive content from a crappy tv show is in no way the same as a movie from the forties.
Honestly, in this day and age Tina Fey should have known better.