More than two years after being scrapped by ABC due to “creative differences,†a post-election, politically charged episode of Black-ish is now available to watch on Hulu. Showrunner Kenya Barris unveiled the news today on social media, confirming that he personally appealed to Disney to get the episode, titled “Please, Baby, Please,†released amid the Black Lives Matter movement. “I cannot wait for everyone to finally see the episode for themselves and, as was the case nearly three years ago, we hope it inspires some much-needed conversation — not only about what we were grappling with then or how it led to where we are now,†Barris wrote, “but conversations about where we want our country to go moving forward and, most importantly, how we get there together.â€
“Please, Baby, Please†was filmed in November 2017 and was originally intended to air on ABC in February 2018, prior to the network and Barris “mutually†agreeing not to air it due to creative issues. At the time, the episode’s premise was described as this: Dre (Anthony Anderson) has to care for his infant son on the night of a bad thunderstorm, and reads him a bedtime story that “conveys many of Dre’s concerns about the current state of the country.†These concerns included athletes choosing to kneel during football games, as well as the politics surrounding Donald Trump’s presidency. “We just had a difference of opinion. I don’t think it’s the first time an episode hasn’t aired,†Barris, who co-wrote and directed the episode, told Vulture later in 2018. “You know what I’m saying? It probably won’t be the last. And I feel like it was something for us that we felt like we couldn’t come to an agreement and mutually decided just to sort of move past it.â€