The long-running comedy sitcom of pure chaos known as It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia landed on Disney+ at the start of 2022, bringing with it a full 15 seasons of the absolute worst people you’ve ever met. But throughout the onslaught of harebrained schemes, terrible ideas, and poorly-plotted plans that always backfire for the gang, there are episodes missing. Five, to be exact.
If you’ve been around the Always Sunny fandom for a while, you’ll know that these missing episodes are nothing new. They were taken off international streaming services like Hulu back in December, and now Disney+ has followed suit in Australia.
Which Episodes Of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia Are Missing From Disney+?
In total, there are five episodes of Always Sunny that are missing from the 15 seasons available on Disney+ currently. They’re select episodes from five different seasons ranging from Season 4 to Season 14, and because each season is pretty episodic, the missing episodes don’t really take much away from the overall story of the season.
America’s Next Top Paddy’s Billboard Model Contest
Season 4, Episode 3
Released: 2008
Dee Reynolds: Shaping America’s Youth
Season 6, Episode 9
Released: 2010
The Gang Recycles Their Trash
Season 8, Episode 2
Released: 2012
The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 6
Season 9, Episode 9
Released: 2013
Dee Day
Season 14, Episode 3
Released: 2019
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Why Have These Episodes Been Removed From Their Seasons?
To put it simply: because they all feature characters in blackface, brownface or yellowface.
The show might push the boundaries on satirical comedy — where the main characters are not meant to be liked, have any shred of actual success and have all of their half-baked plans foiled — but streaming services clearly have a line.
Across two episodes in Season 4 and Season 8, Dee Reynolds plays a bit character named Martina Martinez. In her (deeply racist) portrayal of the Latina character, she dons brownface which led to the removal of the episodes by multiple streaming platforms internationally.
The removed episode in Season 6 features Mac reenacting Danny Glover‘s Lethal Weapon character Sergeant Roger Murtaugh, where he uses blackface.
Season 9’s The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon shows both Dee and Mac sporting blackface to make their home-movie sequel of the film series.
And in Season 14’s removed episode Dee Day, Dee makes all the other Always Sunny gang members dress up in her bit characters, which results in Frank (Danny Devito) reprising the Martina Martinez role and Mac portraying an Asian character with yellowface.
Pretty sound reasons as to why these episodes have been yoinked from Disney+, really.
Has Disney+ Done This For Any Other Content On The Platform?
Back in 2019, Disney+ rolled out content warnings for all the classic films that feature deeply problematic themes, like racist caricatures.
Films like Dumbo and The Jungle Book now have a pre-film notice (which was updated in 2020) confirming that the stereotypes portrayed in the following movie were “wrong then, and are wrong now”.
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is now streaming on Disney+.
