An children’s episode that was pulled from the ABC in 2012 has sparked uproar once again, after it was aired on Foxtel last week.
The Peppa Pig video, titled Mister Skinny Legs, sees the pink protagonist and her brother George handle a friendly spider, with some viewers believing it sends the wrong message.
After the clip screened on Foxtel, a concerned mother contacted the broadcaster to complain and was left furious with their response, according to Essential Baby.
An episode of children’s show Peppa Pig, titled Mister Skinny Legs (pictured), which was pulled from the ABC in 2012 has sparked uproar after it was aired on Foxtel last week
The mother – known only as Jess – said she issued the complaint as she was worried about the message the episode would send to children.
‘A lot of kids will see it on TV and think “Oh I can do that because monkey see monkey do”,’ she said.
After submitting the grievance to Foxtel, her issue was reportedly passed on to governing body Nickelodeon.
Their initial response stated that they intended to keep the episode on air due to its ‘G rating’ and said that the episode’s message was about ‘respecting all creatures’.
‘The context of the way the spider is portrayed in the episode lessens any impact of scariness or danger; the spider does not look real, it has a smiley face and is shown in context of a show with other talking animals,’ the statement read.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Foxtel for comment and was told by Nickelodeon that the episode has now been removed.
‘Nick Jr. prides itself in creating a safe environment for its audience and bases all programming decisions upon internal guidelines in accordance with all Australian regulatory and legal obligations,’ a spokesperson for Nickelodeon said in a statement.
‘While the episode does meet our criteria, after careful consideration we have made the programming decision to remove it from the Nick Jr. rotation.’
After the clip screened on Foxtel (stock photo), a concerned mother contacted the broadcaster to complain, with her message passed on to governing body Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon’s original response stated that the show would remain available to be watched due to factors such as its G-rating, however in a statement they later said after careful consideration the episode would be removed from rotation
The episode sees George find a spider in his bathroom sink before picking it up and going to play with it.
Initially afraid, when Peppa sees the spider she is heard saying it is ‘too scary,’ before later picking the spider up herself.
‘Spiders are very, very small and they can’t hurt you,’ Daddy Pig says in the episode.
The clip received a complaint when it first aired in Australia in 2012, with the ABC issuing a statement about it.
It was brought to the broadcaster’s attention as being ‘inappropriate’ for an Australian audience due to the implication that ‘spiders were not to be feared.’
The ABC’s response declared that the content was ‘unsuitable’ and had since been restricted it from being aired, however it had accidentally been published online temporarily.
‘The ABC apologised to the complainant and advised that the episode was no longer available online,’ the statement read.
The episode sees George find a spider in his bathroom sink before both he and Peppa handle it, and was previously deemed ‘unsuitable’ by the ABC