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The hit comedy series The Office‘s “Diversity Day” episode was recently omitted from a Sunday marathon screening of the long-running mockumentary series Comedy Central. The episode, which satirized contemporary corporate “diversity and inclusion” initiatives, appears to be the latest casualty of an increasingly censorious #woke society. The censorship was noted by Barstool Sports at the time.
Is @ComedyCentral really too chickenshit to run the ‘Diversity Day’ episode? Or is there some other reason they omit it? pic.twitter.com/U9XRxmdDIK
— Rear Admiral (@RearAdBsBlog) August 22, 2021
“…instead of just slapping up a trigger warning for an episode of “The Office”, Comedy Central quietly omitted it from the rotation thus sending OCD-riddled completists into delirium and prompting me blog about it, drawing even more attention to this, dare I say, canceling of a modern day icon. Fret not as this doesn’t mean that you can only watch ‘Diversity Day’ on some shady site that gives your PC cybercrabs; you just need to pony up to enjoy it on Peacock or buy it for $3 from any number of streaming outlets. It also means that Comedy Central doesn’t get the first part of its name.”
Hey, where’s the ‘Diversity Day’ ep?
— Rear Admiral (@RearAdBsBlog) August 22, 2021
The episode features the series’ principal character, Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell), impersonating a Chris Rock comic piece regarding black people’s attitudes of other black people. He later does a parody of an Indian accent. “Diversity Day” is possibly one of the series’ most exceptional episodes, using Carrell’s character to make casual stereotypes and bigotry look ugly. The audience applauds Kelly when she eventually decks him.
Steve Carell hinted in 2018 that the production of The Office at the time would “be impossible” owing to today’s political considerations.
“It might be impossible to do that show today and have people accept it the way it was accepted ten years ago. The climate’s different. I mean, the whole idea of that character, Michael Scott, so much of it was predicated on inappropriate behavior. I mean, he’s certainly not a model boss. A lot of what is depicted on that show is completely wrong-minded. That’s the point, you know? But I just don’t know how that would fly now. There’s a very high awareness of offensive things today—which is good, for sure. But at the same time, when you take a character like that too literally, it doesn’t really work.”
As Carrell puts it, the point is “wrong-mindedness.” Is the risk of offending individuals greater than the reward of making a point about racism’s wrongness? Jokes based on mocking intolerance aren’t usually accurate. Comedy is a highly personal experience. However, it is intended to be offensive. It must be offensive.
Comedy Central did not comment on why they decided to pull the episode when the Federalist or Barstool Sports made inquiries. Maybe we should call them Cowardly Central from now on?
Thankfully are still a few remaining other places where we can still watch the episode.
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