Adult Swim Pulls Episodes Of Shows Over "Cultural Insensitivities"

A growing number of Redditors in recent months have noticed several Adult Swim shows have been quietly retired. Reddit posts dating back to June have been keeping track of HBO Max seemingly missing certain Aqua Teen Hunger Force episodes --Variety and The Daily Beast have dug deeper and found further episodes of The Boondocks and The Shivering Truth have also disappeared. The current and complete list of retired episodes includes:

• Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Season 6's "Shake Like Me" and "Boston"
• The Boondocks: Season 3's "The Story of Jimmy Rebel"
• The Shivering Truth: Season 1's "Ogled Inklings"

An Adult Swim representative speaking with The Daily Beast explained that these episodes have been "permanently retired due to cultural insensitivities" with no date planned for their return to streaming. The representative added: "When Adult Swim transitions to a new platform, we determine what episodes are selected through creative and cultural filters and our standards and practices policies. Oftentimes these decisions are made in collaboration with the show's creators."

The efforts by networks and studios to remove offensive episodes got underway this past summer, and there are many examples. In August, HBO Max added a disclaimer for Blazing Saddles with "proper social context," and did something similar with Gone With The Wind back in June. Across June and July, many streaming services purged episodes of NBC shows, including The Office, Community, Scrubs, and 30 Rock, purged episodes featuring racist elements or portrayals.

GameSpot's sister site CNET notes that HBO has a precedent for course-correcting and updating its programming, pointing to disclaimers amended to the beginning of certain Looney Tunes cartoons re-released on DVD or streaming services since 2005.