A banned Bluey episode is now free to watch in the US and UK, but not on Disney Plus

*Inserts facepalm emoji

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Since it was launched in 2019,Disney Plushas become host to hundreds of different titles, making it one of thebest streaming servicesthere is.

Recently, however, the streaming titan' relationship with children’s television showBluey, hasn’t always been plain sailing. Indeed, while the vast majority of the family-friendly episodes are streamable on the service, Disney Plus actually banned one of its supposedly controversial entries from the platform in the US and UK.

Now, though, you can watch said episode, which wasn’t banned in Australia, for free until your heart’s content. To do so, though, you’ll have to watch it onYouTube, rather than Disney Plus. Check it out below:

If you’re not familiar withBluey: it’s an Australian animated series aimed at young kids about a family of Blue Heeler dogs exploring the realities of everyday life. It’s so popular, in fact, that it’s even made its way onto ourbest Disney Plus showslist.

But I digress. In the episode titled ‘Dad Baby’, which is the one that Disney Plus barred from being show on its primary streaming platform, 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 officialBlueyYouTube 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 non-Disney-owned services in Australia and the UK.

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 Guardianraised several questions in an article about the bannedBlueyepisode, 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.

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There are a number of reasons why kids TV shows have been banned from public viewing, one of the most famous examples beingPokémon’s 1997 ‘Dennō Senshi Porygon’ episode, whose 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.

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Rowan is an Editorial Associate and Apprentice Writer for TechRadar. A recent addition to the news team, he is involved in generating stories for topics that spread across TechRadar’s categories. His interests in audio tech and knowledge in entertainment culture help bring the latest updates in tech news to our readers.

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