No amount of editing can rescue Little Britain from the offensive, transphobic mess that it is
their blackface character has been removed, I was saddened to see there doesn’t appear to be an attempt to remove some of the other offensive jokes and characters, such as the ones that make fun of transgender people, or Asian people.
Co-creator Matt Lucas has previously said his own views have changed and it would be very ‘hard’ to do that character now, but that didn’t stop the duo allowing the the same trans characters to stay in re-runs of the original.Despite Lucas claiming on screen that ‘they shouldn’t be doing this sketch anymore’ – they still allow it to be streamed and fail to fully explain why they shouldn’t be.
Another missed opportunity to have a teaching moment and explain why these types of jokes are cruel and fuel stigma towards the transgender community.I have been really pleased to see Matt Lucas in particular speak out against groups labelled anti-trans and show himself to be a trans ally, which is why I am more than a little surprised that those characters weren’t removed.
If, as Lucas claims, he is a trans ally, it is even more important to be critical of the message the show sends about trans people and their identities, no matter how difficult that may be for him.
