United States | News & Politics

The company mysteriously cut an episode called "Dad Baby" from its 2020 season but only in the U.S., where it remains inexplicably unavailable on Disney+ five years later. Because no "official reason has been given for the censorship" by Disney, said Stuart Heritage at The Guardian, many speculate that it was due to "delicate Americans."

Most episodes of the series, which has become a cultural phenomenon, are 7-minute vignettes about dad Bandit and mom Chili engaging in elaborate imaginative play with their daughters, six-year-old Bluey and four-year-old Bingo. The series is "educational without being pedantic, and, often, genuinely hilarious," said Phillip Maciak at Slate. Bandit, in particular, is renowned in dad circles for his ability to "instantly become an eager participant in whatever his kids dream up," said Bryan Walsh at Vox. In "Dad Baby," little Bingo finds an old baby carrier and climbs into it, while Bandit straps it on and tries to explain what it was once used for.

Bandit immediately suffers "pain in his back and feet, the inability to bend over, and constant hunger," said Kristina Behr at Parents. Meanwhile, Chili "relishes the fact that he is clueless about how to navigate real pregnancy." Bluey then talks Bandit into "delivering" Bingo in a kids' pool with the help of their improbably down-for-anything neighbor Pat, better known throughout the series as "Lucky's Dad."

The episode was finally uploaded to the show's official YouTube channel in May 2024 but remains missing from Disney+, where most families watch it, possibly due to the "depiction of pregnancy and childbirth, which might be deemed too mature for the target audience of preschoolers," said Adele Ankers-Range at IGN. But exactly why American kids, and only American kids, have been deemed too sensitive for this subject matter — when other episodes have also addressed difficult themes like infertility and aging — is up for debate. And it almost certainly has to do with Disney's perception of American adults.

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