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Rebel Wilson
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Rebel Wilson is speaking up in defense of friend Matt Lucas after his comedy series Little Britain was pulled from multiple streaming services due to its use of blackface. In an interview with Australia’s Studio 10, Wilson said that despite the show’s multiple blackface sketches, it should remain on streaming, as “erasing things” ultimately leads to a denial of history. “I just think [it’s] a bit crazy,” Wilson said of the Little Britain removal. “They obviously play many different characters on that show.”
Last week, as protests against racism continued to sweep the globe, multiple streaming platforms pulled insensitive content from their libraries. Two such titles were Little Britain, Lucas and David Walliams’ 2003 BBC comedy, and their 2010 film Come Fly With Me, both of which were removed from Netflix UK, Hulu, and Britbox due to their racist depiction of Black people. In multiple sketches, Lucas and Walliams (both of whom are white) wear full blackface to play a variety of different Black characters, including Desiree DeVere and airline worker Taaj.
When asked about the Little Britain controversy, Wilson defended Lucas, her longtime friend and former roommate (the two also played Kristen Wiig’s roommates in Bridesmaids). “I’m not a fan of just erasing things,” the actress and comedian told Australian outlet Studio 10. “I think in history, you should learn from it. And if you erase it, it’s a bit like denying it ever happened. That doesn’t seem like a good plan.”
“At the moment we’re in a time of hyper social justice because there’s so many important things happening in the world,” continued Wilson. She added that this push towards social justice “has made it very difficult for comedians to flirt with that line” between satire and offense, which comics have been doing for centuries. “Throughout history, way back with the court jester in the monarchy — a comedian’s job is to flirt with that line of what’s acceptable.”
For his part, Lucas has been open about regretting the blackface scenes in Little Britain. He released an apology on Saturday, writing, “David and I have both spoken publicly in recent years of our regret that we played characters of other races. Once again we want to make it clear that it was wrong and we are very sorry.” Walliams posted an almost identical apology tweet.
