Greg Daniels Removes The Office Blackface Scene After George Floyd
Greg Daniels removed a blackface sequence from the office after George Floyd died in 2020, changing the Netflix and syndicated versions of a Season 9 episode. The cut came from “Dwight Christmas,” the sitcom’s final Christmas episode, which aired on December 12, 2012.
Daniels called the deleted sequence “hurtful and wrong.” He also said, “I am sorry for the pain that caused.” For viewers, the practical change is simple: the episode now exists in two forms, and the version most people are likely to encounter on streaming or in syndication no longer includes the blackface beat.
Dwight Christmas on December 12, 2012
The scene sat inside a holiday episode built around Dwight dressing as Belschnickel, a companion to Santa Claus in German folklore. His co-workers objected after learning that the figure is often paired with a sidekick in blackface called Zwarte Piet, and Dwight texted the white warehouse worker he had asked to play that role, telling him not to come. Mark Proksch was then briefly seen outside the building in blackface as Zwarte Piet before returning to his car.
That sequence now sits outside the circulating versions. The edit removed the image that triggered the later change, but left the broader episode intact, which is how the show’s back catalog was revised instead of the season being left untouched.
Greg Daniels and the 2020 cut
Daniels framed the series as one that used workplace satire to push a specific idea of conduct. “The Office is about a group of people trying to work together with mutual respect despite the inappropriate actions of their boss and assistant manager,” he said. “The show employed satire to expose unacceptable behavior and deliver a message of inclusion.”
His statement places the edit inside a larger 2020 sweep through comedy libraries. Several episodes of Scrubs and 30 Rock were taken down from streaming services for the same reason that year, and five episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia containing racial humor remain unavailable. The blackface cut on The Office follows that same business logic: a back-catalog title stays available, but only after the material is narrowed to fit current distribution standards.
Netflix and syndication versions
The change affects two high-traffic routes into the series, not a one-off broadcast. Netflix and syndicated airings are the versions most viewers are likely to meet first, so the removal reaches beyond a single replay and into how a Season 9 episode is presented in everyday rotation.
For viewers revisiting the series, the important detail is not just that a scene vanished, but where it vanished from: the versions built for repeat viewing. That is the real business consequence here, and it is why the cut still matters years after the episode first aired.
