Muppet Show Disney+ disclaimers under criticism while fans thankful for series

[datman24]

For anyone that has not noticed, right-wing media has been going berserk over the content disclaimers for the Disney+ release of The Muppet Show. FOX News did a segment talking with Arkansas senator, Tom Cotton, about the matter where rather than explaining about why they felt these disclaimers were unnecessary, used it as an opportunity to attack Disney and their relationship with China. Even Donald Trump Jr. weighed in on the matter, blaming "the libs." Quite frankly, my problem with the disclaimers have nothing to do with cancel culture, but it gives people the notion that the Muppets were culturally-insensitive in their prime, when it was anything but that. What baffles my mind is why these right-wing pundits are pretending that they actually care about the Muppets. If they looked deep into it, they would realize that the Muppets stand for everything they are against.

Look, I know many of you come here to get away from politics, as do I, but this was one of those things that needed to be addressed here.

 

[D'Snowth]

I mean people were wigging out over the SS Old School sets including those disclaimers that the content on the DVDs were "intended for adults."

Not to mention, rightwing media also lost their mind of THE MUPPETS (2011) for what they perceived to be pushing liberal anti-oil agendas, because we all know what a blood lust conservatives have for oil.

 

[Oscarfan]

I expected people to get upset about the content itself and tweet about the Confederate flag and such. I did not expect people to be so up in arms about getting told about that stuff.

 

[Fozzie6]

I’m not sure what you’re baffled about. We have 24-hour sensationalist news cycles that over blow anything and everything plus politicians never miss an opportunity to politicize anything they can.

I just find it ridiculous that they removed the Chris Langham episode.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Frankly they’re just looking for an excuse to point fingers and claim another case where this country is being “pussified” by liberals. I mean yeah, I don’t like the fact that we have this disclaimer in the first place and I do think the internet is a good place to complain about first world problems, but I do understand why we have the disclaimers.

 

[Flaky Pudding]

It doesn't offend me too much but I was quite uncomfortable re-watching that Put Another Log On The Fire sketch. I mean yes, I'm glad she got the upper hand at the end of the song and beat up that hillbilly Muppet but it still doesn't change how sexist some of the lyrics were. It makes perfect sense why they would put a disclaimer on there because those episodes were produced in a different time where certain things that were acceptable now just simply won't fly anymore.

Does that mean that the writers are genuinely bigoted people who were intending to harm others? Absolutely not, and I would gladly argue anyone who claims otherwise. It's just that as time moves forward, values change. It's not even just in regards to race and gender either, the many episodes of TMS which depicted smoking fall into the same category. I understand why certain people would be upset about the disclaimer but at the same time, the reason why Disney+ chose to put it there is completely understandable. I would much rather them add a brief content warning as opposed to completely ban the episodes all together. As long as they are still available on the platform, providing a bit of cultural context surrounding the scenes which didn't hold up all that well isn't that big of a deal. There are much worse ways they could've handled this issue.

I do wonder why the Crystal Gayle episode has a disclaimer though. That has always been one of my favorite episodes (because of those hilarious little prairie dogs) and can't remember anything potentially problematic in it. All the other episodes they add the warning to, I can come up with some sort of explanation but in this particular instance, I'm just not sure.

 

[Muppet Master]

What annoys me the most is seeing people say something like "The muppets have a content advisory?! What's next? Barney or Caillou?". They clearly aren't aware of the type of content featured on The Muppet Show and liken it to some series targeted towards preschoolers.

At the same time though, I'll agree that it's irritating to see a company like Disney pretend to have some sort of moral high-ground over Jim Henson and company. I get that some of their content hasn't aged well but none of it came with malicious intent.

 

[D'Snowth]

Well, the Muppets have collectively always been assumed to be for preschoolers - that's something that's been a problem for generations . . . even when I was in elementary school, by the time you moved onto second and third grade, suddenly the Muppets were "for babies, and if anybody found out you still watch them, that just made you a big target for bullies.

But honestly, it's not just perceived-to-be kids content like Muppets or Looney Tunes that are effected by this . . . while other shows don't include such content warnings, a lot of really overly politically sensitive people out there feel as though other older shows should have similar content warnings for how "offensive" their content is . . . like BEWITCHED, for example: a lot of Millennials find this show "offensive" because they see Darrin as a control-hungry misogynist who forces Samantha to conform to his lifestyle and make him happy (which misses the entire point of Samantha choosing to give up her witchcraft and adopt the mortal lifestyle out of her love for him) . . . or a show like SEINFELD, which was always an equal-opportunity offender - many Millennials see that as one of the most offensive shows ever made (which, again, completely misses the point that SEINFELD spared nobody and nothing when it came to comedy).

 

[Muppet Master]

It's also worth noting that Fox News was the first one to try to "cancel" The Muppets. But I guess now they're sticking up for them?

 

[Oscarfan]

It doesn't offend me too much but I was quite uncomfortable re-watching that Put Another Log On The Fire sketch. I mean yes, I'm glad she got the upper hand at the end of the song and beat up that hillbilly Muppet but it still doesn't change how sexist some of the lyrics were.

That song is 100% ironic. It's by Shel Silverstein, so you know it's not supposed to be serious.

I do wonder why the Crystal Gayle episode has a disclaimer though. That has always been one of my favorite episodes (because of those hilarious little prairie dogs) and can't remember anything potentially problematic in it. All the other episodes they add the warning to, I can come up with some sort of explanation but in this particular instance, I'm just not sure.

I would wager it has to do with the "Swanee" number (using Dixie and "Mammy!").