Must see: Two Banned Episodes of “The Boondocks”
EVIL!
Cartoon Network banned the last two episodes of the brilliantly sharp The Boondocks second season because the episodes took square aim at BET. It seems in the current age of mega-media conglomerates what is off-limits is taking shots at the boys club. BET and Cartoon Network are not owned by the same companies (Viacom owns BET and Time Warner owns Cartoon Network) though it is apparent that these companies want absolutely no ill between them, as you never know when one will try to join forces (or buy) the other. (A less speculative report of the story via the Canadian Press.)
It’s our loss, as those two episodes, entitled “The Hunger Strike” and “The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show,” are brutal in their pointedness and hilariously funny. The first episode follows Huey as he stages a hunger strike until BET is taken off the air, its office’s shut down and “all of its top executives commit Japanese ritualistic suicide.” In the second episode BET gives Uncle Ruckus a reality show (Uncle Ruckus being a recurring older, black character who hates black people). The framework for both of these episodes is a super-villain-like boardroom at the BET headquarters where they attempt to execute their master plan: the destruction of all black people.
The episodes did air in Canada, because… well, what the hell do they care? This means they are readily available on the torrent sites (look for episode numbers 214 and 215). Unfortunately for our law-abiding friends, The Boondocks is not readily available for consumption online. Adultswim.com seems to have clips, but not whole episodes and the show isn’t on iTunes. The best we can do is dig through YouTube looking for soon-to-be deleted episodes.
I was able to find the completely unedited opening to “The Hunger Strike” on HipHopDX.com. NSFW (especially if you work for BET)
