Multiple episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia have been removed from Netflix in the UK in light of recent controversy involving racial stereotypes. I despise misrepresentation in works of fiction and in most cases I would support the decision, but they've really missed the mark by targeting a show that aims to break down these offensive stereotypes with satire. It's Always Sunny mocks the very use of those harmful depictions - not to mention its main cast, who engage in this behaviour, are deliberately shown to be terribly amoral individuals. This kind of active discussion portrayed in the show should be encouraged, rather than hastily buried.

An example would be 'Dee Day', an episode from the most recent season. It shows Frank dressed up as a Latina woman. It is painfully obvious that the show is mocking the use of its own stereotype.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the decision to remove these episodes is the lack of internal consistency with the choice of episodes. Season 9's 'The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 6' is an example of an episode that fits the bill.

As tv.avclub.com puts it, 'In The Gang’s collective arguments concerning, say, the appropriateness of Mac playing Rog in full blackface vs. Dennis playing him as a white dude (but with an affected “black guy” voice) were absolutely essential, not just as brilliant pieces of comic character deconstruction (which they most assuredly were), but as the underpinning to the fact that both of those things, and much, much worse were going to happen in Lethal Weapon 5.'

I very simply want to restore the episodes and continue to challenge actual harmful stereotypes in media. I love It's Always Sunny, and don't believe it deserves this level of scrutiny. Even the writers and actors in the show have agreed that they want to incorporate more positive representation and acknowledge that some past episodes may cross the line in places, such as referring to one recurring character as a 'tr*nny'.