Tina Fey reached out to the executives of the NBC Universal to get all the 30 Rock episodes removed that featured characters using blackface from online platforms.
Fey was the executive producer, show creator, and showrunner along with Robert Carlock who was also a co-showrunner and an executive producer, both made the request.
As per Deadline, both the executive producers made an official statement in which they mentioned how they strive to do better for the society, and considering the race in the United States, they believe that such episodes should be taken down.
Fey said that actors "race-changing" with the help of makeup should be removed from the circulation and the best way is to remove them from streaming platforms. The 50-year-old actress said that "intent" should not become a reason for white people to use such images.
She further apologized for the pain caused by her and said, "Going forward, no comedy-loving kid needs to stumble on these tropes and be stung by their ugliness," the Saturday Night Live star added. In total, there are four episodes that need to be taken down from online streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime, Hulu, Google Play, and iTunes by the end of this week.
The requested episodes for removal include Believe In The Stars from episode 2 of season 3, Christmas Attack Zone from episode 10 of season 5, Live from Studio 6H from episode 19 of season 6, and The Live Show from East Coast version of episode 4 from season 5.
According to the report, these episodes will be taken down from NBC Universal's sales platform and the network has already taken action as they asked respective partners to take down those episodes from the platforms.
It seems the idea of excluding these episodes from 30 Rock came from HBO Max as they removed Gone With the Wind movie from its online streaming platform. While the movie will appear again on the streaming platform, there will be a disclaimer regarding its historical context.
The sitcom started back in 2006 and last aired in January 2013. 30 Rock won many awards including 16 Emmys back to back for three years. It also won Golden Globes, PGA, DGA, SAG, and WGA along with AFI and Peabody Awards.
This is a record-holder series for having most Emmy nominations in comedy series for one season and received total 103 nominations from Emmy over 7 seasons on NBC.