The Big Picture
-
Scrubs
removed three episodes featuring blackface following a fan’s suggestion on Twitter, and the show’s stars and creator addressed the issue on their podcast. - The episode “My Fifteen Seconds” was mistakenly identified as containing blackface, but it was actually “My Friend the Doctor” that made references to blackface.
- The creators of
Scrubs
, like the cast of
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
, initially didn’t equate their use of blackface with “traditional blackface,” but now acknowledge the wrongness of their actions and plan to edit the episodes for future streaming.
During the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement that coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, 30 Rock made its own gesture of contribution towards the movement by removing episodes featuring blackface. A fan tweeted for Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence to follow suit, to which he replied, “Agreed. Already in the works.” Three Scrubs episodes were soon removed from streaming entirely. The show’s stars Zach Braff and Donald Faison (who play JD and Turk respectively) host the Scrubs rewatch podcast Fake Doctors Real Friends. “There were three episodes in particular over the years that had instances of blackface,” Braff explained on the podcast. “One was me in a fantasy being Donald, one was [Sarah Chalke] in a fantasy being Donald, and the third was Donald and I attending a black fraternity party, him in whiteface, me in blackface.”
For the “Our Difficult Past” episode of the podcast, hosts Braff and Faison were joined by Lawrence for an episode dedicated entirely to tackling the reasons these three problematic episodes were removed. Lawrence explained, “The most important reason I wanted to do this […] is I did see some things directed at Donald and Zach and Sarah, and everybody should know, I think the reason the word ‘showrunner’ exists in television is ’cause you’re the gatekeeper and anything that gets allowed on the show, you have to ultimately take responsibility for.” Lawrence went on to apologize outright for the use of blackface, and the podcast discussed each instance.
Scrubs
In the unreal world of Sacred Heart Hospital, intern John “J.D.” Dorian learns the ways of medicine, friendship and life.
- Release Date
- October 2, 2001
- Seasons
- 9
- Studio
- ABC
Season 3, Episode 7 titled “My Fifteen Seconds” was noted by several news sources as being the first episode removed from streaming due to its use of blackface. However, “My Fifteen Seconds” never included blackface, and was likely mistaken as the following episode which did. “My Friend the Doctor” features several references to black culture, including JD judging a black patient’s family for not understanding a reference to the movie Shaft. The joke is appropriately on JD’s ignorance, though, with one of the family sarcastically replying, “Yeah, that’s our Citizen Kane.” Scrubs was celebrated for moments like this, in which race can be joked about as long as the focus is always on the appropriate subject. One instance in which this episode drastically missed the mark, however, was a fantasy where JD imagines himself as Turk.
‘Scrubs’ Reunion Movie Is “Inevitable”, Says Creator Bill Lawrence
Lawrence is also known for co-creating ‘Ted Lasso,’ and ‘Shrinking.’
After Elliot (Chalke) suggests that JD isn’t over their relationship, Turk tells JD to imagine Elliot with other men, including Sean (Scott Foley) and Turk himself. In JD’s subsequent fantasies, JD is always Elliot’s significant other, proving he still has feelings for her, but in his Turk fantasy, JD is black and wearing Turk’s signature green scrubs. The episode also reveals the Janitor (Neil Flynn) to be a once-aspiring actor, and Dr. Cox (Jon C. McGinley) and Carla (Judy Reyes) deal with getting older. This leads to JD’s closing narration being, “Some people hide from who they really are. Others eventually accept who they are. But sometimes it’s the tough moments that help you realize who you’ve finally become.” Poetically, this speaks to the episode’s removal too, with Braff calling the episode’s blackface usage, “a teachable moment for us all.”
‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Has a Similarly Controversial History
The next episode to feature blackface was “My Jiggly Ball,” Episode 4 of Season 5. At this stage in the series, JD and Elliot are a couple again, living together. The episode’s cold open sees JD imagine an amalgam of Turk and Elliot. Chalke played “Turkiot” in blackface, much like Zach Braff had two seasons prior. It hearkens to a later justification made by the cast of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, who insisted their use of blackface was justified since they weren’t representing a generalization of black people but rather Danny Glover specifically. They later changed their minds, dedicating a Season 15 episode to exploring this problematic past. Like with Scrubs, Hulu removed five episodes of Sunny from streaming. Similarly, Braff on the podcast commented on this idea in Scrubs saying, “I really, frankly, at the time delineated in my mind between the traditional blackface [and what Scrubs was doing]. I’m embarrassed to say now, I never equated it.”
As expressed in Fake Doctors Real Friends, the Scrubs team is unanimously ashamed of every instance of blackface. Much like with “My Friend the Doctor,” “My Jiggly Ball” features a problematic scene that is easily edited out due to its placement, and depending on your streaming service, may have been edited in order not to lose the episodes in their entirety. Lawrence stated on the podcast that removing the full episodes was a short-term solution, and after the pandemic, he had plans to edit more appropriate cuts of the episodes for streaming. Thankfully, one advent of streaming services versus television broadcasts is its less strict rules about runtimes, meaning dropping full sequences isn’t a problem. One minor issue raised regularly on the rewatch podcast, however, is that Scrubs’ signature soundtrack is being changed due to pre-streaming licensing agreements getting in the way of the original music being featured indefinitely.
Creator Bill Lawrence Felt ‘Scrubs’ Diverse Crew “Had a Pass”
The use of blackface in “My Chopped Liver” was different from the other two, but no less wrong, according to Lawrence and the cast. A flashback sees Turk and JD arrive to a black fraternity party hosted by some of Turk’s friends. As a joke, Turk is in whiteface while JD is in blackface. JD himself even addresses his issues with the idea, while Turk reassures him that while they’re together, the joke will land. Turk then gets distracted and leaves just in time for JD to appear alone on the doorstep when several black men open the door.
Despite the fact that this is a joke about blackface (rather than just using blackface), Lawrence now sees the two as just as bad as each other. Lawrence recalls that at the time of writing this episode, they felt they had “a free pass to not have those thoughts back then.” He elaborated:
“Because we were so fucking proud of ourselves for doing a very diverse show. In front of and behind the camera. [We had a] great black and white friendship that exists as a real-life friendship, a great interracial couple who are stars of the show, you know, so it was almost a block of arrogance. Like, ‘We’re so good in what we’re portraying and doing and showing, you know? We could never venture into muddy waters!’ And even now with that same ignorance, we never really connected the two of those things until now.”
Scrubs is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
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