Which '30 Rock' Episodes Contained Characters in Blackface? They're Disappearing for Good
In reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement, following the death of George Floyd, Tina Fey has requested to pull these '30 Rock' blackface episodes.
Although 30 Rock was total a healthy display with underlying darkish comedic moments, many regularly disregard there have been a handful of wildly politically improper episodes. From Jenna "trading places" with Tracy Morgan via depicting herself as a Black man, to Jon Hamm sporting Blackface to parody “Amos ‘n’ Andy," there were certain moments that were offensive from the beginning, and are now being removed from streaming and syndication by Tina Fey herself.
Which 30 Rock episodes featured characters wearing blackface? As of June 22, according to Variety, Tina Fey wrote to syndication networks and streaming services containing the series that she wants all four episodes that contain the racist depiction of Black people pulled. You won't be able to watch them without a DVD boxset or prior recording, which may honestly be for the best.
Two episodes of the series featured Jane Krakowski in blackface.
Jenna (Jane Krakowski) wears blackface in Season 3, Episode 2, which was titled, “Believe In The Stars," when Liz (Tina Fey) leaves the city to attend jury duty in Chicago, and on a flight, she thinks she met Oprah Winfrey. Meanwhile, Jenna and Tracy (Tracy Morgan) are in a heated argument, debating whether or not Tracy can better continue to exist higher in society as a white woman, versus Jenna as a Black guy. They "trade places" for a day, and Jenna paints her face black.
Season 5, Episode 10, which was titled “Christmas Attack Zone," is also getting pulled. Liz helps Jack (Alec Baldwin) through an uncomfortable confrontation on Christmas Eve, while Jenna has a messy breakup with her boyfriend, Paul L'Astname (Will Forte). Paul sees Jenna upset and invites her to a costume party in which guests dressed as pop cultural phenomena. Paul dresses as Black Swan, and Jenna "paradoxically" echos the sentiment and dresses as former Steelers player, Lynn Swan... in blackface.
The other two episodes featured Jon Hamm portraying Blackface.
Season 6, Episode 19 — which was titled “Live from Studio 6H” — is yet another episode getting pulled from networks and streaming services, as Jon Hamm played a character in blackface. While Liz and Kenneth (Jack Breyer) are primarily focused on preventing Jack from shutting down TGS, Drew Baird (Jon Hamm) wears blackface to parody the old radio show Amos ‘n’ Andy. The program ran on radio in the '40s and '50s with two white actors voicing the title roles.
The final episode getting the boot is the East Coast version of “The Live Show,” which was featured in the fourth episode of Season 5. It was a "live" version of TGS featuring a variety of different skits, and at one point, Drew accompanies Tracy in an old-timey skit, in which he wore blackface.
It's indubitably time for these episodes to move, and so they never should had been made in the primary position. Tina Fey made the fitting selection to drag them and expectantly may not dress characters in blackface transferring ahead.
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