‘The Office’ Pulls Blackface Scene From 2012 Christmas Episode

According to The Wrap the creator of The Office, Greg Daniels, has edited out a blackface scene from a 2012 episode. 

The episode in question is “Dwight Christmas,” and The Hollywood Reporter writes that it contained a brief scene where Dwight (Rainn Wilson) tries to get the staff of Dunder Mifflin to “celebrate a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch Christmas.” Having never watched The Office, I have no idea what the context for the scene/episode was. But THR broke it down like so:

In the episode, Dwight dresses up as Bersnickel, a German folklore character. Oscar (Oscar Nunez) discovers via online search that Bersnickel’s sidekick is character named Zwarte Piet, or Black Peter, “a slave boy often portrayed in colorful pantaloons and blackface.” When Stanley (Leslie David Baker), Dunder Mifflin’s only Black salesperson, objects, Dwight nervously replies that his family doesn’t “blindly stick to every outmoded aspect of our traditions” — then texts warehouse worker Nate (Mark Proksch), who’s about to join the party dressed as Black Peter, to warn him away.

The edited out scene will no longer run on TV, or if/when you watch it on its current streaming home, Netflix. Note that in 2021 the show is set to move to NBCUniversal’s streaming platform, Peacock.

In tandem with removing the scene, Daniels also gave a statement intended to explain the decision behind it.

“The Office is about a group of people trying to work together with mutual respect despite the inappropriate actions of their boss and assistant manager,” he said. “The show employed satire to expose unacceptable behavior and deliver a message of inclusion. Today we cut a shot of an actor wearing blackface that was used to criticize a specific racist European practice. Blackface is unacceptable and making the point so graphically is hurtful and wrong. I am sorry for the pain that caused.”