Since it was launched in 2019, Disney Plus has become host to hundreds of different titles, making it one of the best streaming services there is. But it’s had a rocky relationship with the children’s television show Bluey, to the point where Disney Plus banned one of its episodes from the platform – but now you can watch it in full on YouTube (see below).
If you’re not familiar with Bluey, it’s an Australian animated series aimed at young kids about a family of Blue Heeler dogs exploring the realities of everyday life. In the episode titled ‘Dad Baby’, which is the one that Disney Plus banned, pups Bluey and Bingo innocently play with their father Bandit who pretends to be pregnant with Bingo, and ‘gives birth’ to her at the end of the episode. The ‘Dad Baby’ episode has now been uploaded to the official Bluey YouTube channel and, as of May 1 2024, has amassed 1.5 million views at the time of writing.
Why was Bluey’s Dad Baby episode censored?
Despite the episode’s storyline playing up to the show’s depiction of innocent childhood curiosity, it has never been aired on Disney Plus. This is likely due to the streaming platform’s ownership of the show’s US and global streaming rights, even though the episode has been previously broadcast on Australian and UK television.
No official comment from Disney has been made about its decision to not broadcast the episode, and while there’s been much speculation, I think the reasons are crystal clear. The Guardian raised several questions in an article about the banned Bluey episode, debating whether it was the frank nature of the birthing scene that triggered sensitivity issues or if the depiction of a pretend pregnant male (well, male dog in this case) would be viewed as a contribution to the ongoing gender culture debate.
There are a number of reasons why kids TV shows have been banned from public viewing, one of the most famous examples being Pokémon’s ‘Dennō Senshi Porygon’ episode in 1997 where its extreme strobe lighting caused young viewers to have seizures. If you ask me, that’s a legitimate cause for a ban, so the case of the ‘Dad Baby’ episode seems like a bit of a reach on Disney’s part.
