In the episode, John Slattery’s character wears blackface makeup and serenades his bride in front of coworkers.
Lionsgate will not remove a “Mad Men” episode featuring one of its actors in blackface and will instead add a disclaimer at the beginning of the show, the company told Deadline in a statement. The controversial clip in season three features John Slattery’s character, Roger Sterling, in blackface makeup and singing to his new bride, “My Old Kentucky Home” — the name of the episode.
The studio said the episode from the popular AMC series “contains disturbing images related to race in America,” but stood firm on leaving it without any editing.
“One of the characters is shown in blackface as part of an episode that shows how commonplace racism was in America in 1963,” Lionsgate said to the outlet.
