“Spitting Image” Revival Being Prepped For An Overly Sensitive Viewership

Political correctness is an international problem and it looks like it’s washing ashore London. Reports are coming out that iTV, the media conglomerate behind Britbox, is making sure it’s reboot of Spitting Image isn’t going to be TOO controversial.

According to The Times UK 

Senior ITV executives have held “surreal” meetings to discuss how such figures as Kanye West, the Duchess of Sussex and Beyoncé should be depicted amid concern that presenting black celebrities as grotesque puppets could prompt accusations of racism.

Our Take

When a network is getting involved as to how edgy a satirical series can be, it never ends well. I’m also not sure how satirical puppets of black people are any less/more racist than literally anybody else, but here we are. Check out this article from Indian publication MensXP. In it, the author notes that Indian-based entertainers are just as avid to use alternate means to depict people of all races and backgrounds for Bollywood productions. Is that wrong? Wrong is subjective. My opinion, throw shit at the wall and see what sticks.

Brits can take jokes, heck, it sounds like Orlando Bloom is looking forward to taking on “Prince Harry” by way of The Prince coming to HBO MAX, but clearly this is an example of a network overstepping it’s bounds when it comes to comedy. It’s a common adage. Networks and studios think they know better than creatives and producers. That’s why cable television is a graveyard of syndicated network series and not much else.