“Are we the baddies(坏人，反派)?”, asked the comedy double act(双人组合) Mitchell and Webb in their most famous sketch, in which two uniformed SS officers(党卫军军官) look one another up and down(上下打量对方) and arrive at that inescapable(无法回避的) conclusion. And lo(瞧，你看), it turns out they are, if this week’s news about the supposed offensiveness of the duo’s back catalogue(旧作，过往作品集) is to be believed.
“我们是坏人吗？”喜剧双人组合米切尔和韦布在他们最著名的短剧中问道。剧中两名身穿制服的党卫军军官上下打量对方，最终得出那个无法回避的结论。而瞧，如果本周关于这对搭档旧作所谓冒犯性的新闻可信，那他们还真是坏人。
Their newfound unpalatability(不受欢迎，令人反感) made headlines(登上头条，成为新闻) last Monday, when 11 of the pair’s sketches were pulled(被撤下，被移除) from the rerelease(重新发行，重新上线) of That Mitchell and Webb Look on iPlayer to mark its 20th anniversary – a move that led to loud condemnation(谴责，声讨) from the keyboard cavalry(键盘大军，网络喷子) in Britain’s never-ending, and never much fun, culture war(文化战争：围绕价值观的社会冲突).
他们新近获得的“不受欢迎”身份上周一登上了头条：为纪念《米切尔和韦布秀》播出二十周年，该节目在 iPlayer 重新上线时，两人的 11 段短剧被撤下。此举招致英国那场永无止境、也从不有趣的“文化战争”中键盘大军的猛烈谴责。
Was the BBC right to expunge(删除，抹去) the skits(短剧，滑稽小品)? There’s an argument that in this instance, a warning or disclaimer(免责声明，警示说明) might have been sufficient. The sketches in question variously involve jokes about Jimmy Savile(吉米·萨维尔：英国著名主持人，死后被曝性侵丑闻), Robert Webb playing a rude Gandhi (seemingly wearing skin-darkening makeup) and two further scenes in which the comedians wear blackface(涂黑脸：种族歧视性的化妆表演). In neither sketch are they doing so to depict people of colour, but instead to depict white people (in one scene, re-enactors of historic battles having a go at an African skirmish) who themselves wear blackface.(这两段短剧里，他们涂黑脸都不是为了扮演有色人种，而是为了扮演涂黑脸的白人（其中一场是历史战役重演者尝试非洲小规模战斗）。) In both, they are alert to their own indelicacy(粗鲁，不得体): “Are you sure,” asks Webb repeatedly throughout one, “that this isn’t racist?”
BBC 删除这些短剧做得对吗？有一种观点认为，就此事而言，加个警告或免责声明或许就够了。涉事短剧内容各异：有拿吉米·萨维尔开玩笑的，有罗伯特·韦布扮演粗鲁的甘地（似乎涂了深色妆容）的，还有两场喜剧演员涂黑脸的戏。这两段短剧里，他们涂黑脸都不是为了扮演有色人种，而是为了扮演涂黑脸的白人（其中一场是历史战役重演者尝试非洲小规模战斗）。两段短剧都意识到自身的不妥：韦布在其中一段里反复问：“你确定这不算种族歧视吗？”