The ABC has pulled two episodes of popular Australian TV show Bluey over “racial connotations” after a viewer complaint.
Both Teasing and Flat Pack were temporarily pulled while the term “Ooga Booga” was removed.
According to the ABC, the station received a complaint on June 27, saying that it included “a term with racial connotations and a problematic history for Indigenous Australians”.
The Macquarie Dictionary does define the term to be “derogatory” and is a “stereotypical rendering of what the speaker regards to be the language of those deemed by them to be African savages.”
As soon as the ABC became aware of the episode, they removed it and apologised in a statement.
“The ABC has a strong record for giving voice to Indigenous Australians and an ongoing commitment to helping reduce discrimination and prejudice and in this case, the language used was inadvertent,” it read. You can read the full statement here.
The edited version of Flat Pack is now available on iView, however, Teasing will not be made available until September 8.
Bluey is an Australian animated television series for preschool children that premiered on ABC Kids on October 1, 2018.
It follows a blue heeler pup who lives with her parents and her four-year-old sister, Bingo, in Brisbane. The show turns mundane activities into imaginative play and consist of mesmerising seven-minute episodes full of laughs and heart.
It has captured the heart of children and parents alike across the country and in March this year, it even won an International Kids Emmy Award which celebrates the world’s best content for young viewers.
Produced by Brisbane-based Ludo Studio, the series won the Kids: Preschool Award at the 2019 International Emmys ceremony in New York on March 31.