Report: ABC Shelved ‘Black-ish’ Episode Over Concerns About Trump Comments

ABC reportedly shelved an episode of Black-ish over comments made about President Donald Trump in the episode, a source told Variety. The report describes the episode as featuring two characters arguing “over the rights of athletes to kneel during the performance of the national anthem at football games” and touches upon the main character's “concerns about the current state of the country.” “Given our creative differences, neither ABC nor I were happy with the direction of the episode and mutually agreed not to air it,” the show’s creator, Kenya Barris, told the outlet at the time. On Thursday, Barris signed a three-year production deal with Netflix worth about $100 million. Barris’ relationship with ABC had reportedly become strained due to the shelving of the Black-ish episode. Barris’ release from ABC was reportedly finalized months ago, and the Netflix deal had been in place for “some time,” even though his departure from the network was only made official last month. Barris’ high-dollar deal with the streaming service puts him in the same fields as other Netflix recruits like Grey’s Anatomy’s Shonda Rhimes and American Horror Story’s Ryan Murphy.