A scene from Australia’s Emmy-winning animated series “Bluey” has been excised following accusations of fat-shaming and fatphobia.
ABC Australia and BBC Studios have edited the season three episode “Exercise” to address concerns resulting from the episode’s first scene in which Bluey’s father Bandit embarks on a fitness regime.
Bandit stands on the bathroom scales and grabs his paunch. He says, “Oh man… I just need to do some exercise”, to which his wife responds, “Tell me about it”. Their child Bluey then says: “Why don’t you just do some exercise?”
A backlash emerged from body image experts who say it could pass on weight stigmas and fatphobia to children. As a result, that 73-second scene in the bathroom has been completely removed from the episode.
Instead, it starts with Bandit doing some exercise in his backyard as the kids try to turn it into a game. ABC says in an official statement:
“The recent episode of Bluey, Exercise, has been republished by the ABC following a decision by the makers of the program. The new version provides families with the opportunity to manage important conversations in their own way.
As the home of Bluey, the ABC supports the decision to re-edit the program, and we have updated the episode on our platforms. BBC Studios will use this revised version for global distribution and also support this decision.”
The episode in question aired two weeks ago in Australia and has yet to screen internationally. Audiences in the U.K. and U.S. will only get the edited version of the original episode.
“Bluey” has undergone edits in the past. In 2020 a term was cut from two episodes after complaints about the words having “racial connotations and a problematic history for Indigenous Australians”.
The series also famously has been edited for content by Disney+ in markets like the U.S., which reportedly cut out a unicorn poop gag from one episode.
The episode “Dad Baby” remains unavailable on Disney+ in the U.S., though is available there on disc and digital media releases. Another episode, “Family Meeting,” was also removed entirely from the service until a backlash saw that decision rescinded.
The series has become one of Australia’s biggest exports. In the United States alone, it ranked in Nielsen’s top 10 streaming programs of 2022 by minutes viewed, with 21.1 billion minutes watched. That makes it the second most-watched animated series on streaming last year.
Source: The Guardian
