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.
