Nathan Fielder Reveals Why Paramount+ Removed ‘Nathan for You' Episode
On HBO and Max, Nathan Fielder is attempting to rid America of all air disasters. But The Rehearsal just made a stop in Paramount-bashing territory.
On Sunday's episode of The Rehearsal, Fielder revealed a conversation he had with Paramount after discovery Paramount+ had removed a 2015 episode of his series Nathan for You, which originally aired on Comedy Central, one of Paramount Global's cable channels.
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In Nathan for You season three's second episode, titled 'Horseback Riding/Man Zone,' after the Vancouver-based jacket company Taiga posted a tribute to Doug Collins, a Holocaust denier, Fielder launches a (real) winter-wear line called Summit Ice. Fielder is from Vancouver; Taiga touts its apparel as 'German-engineered' and 'Canadian-made.'
Though like all things Fielder the endeavor began as a low-key goof, Summit Ice is actually a very real brand. It donates all of its profits to the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre in Vancouver. Fielder, who is Jewish, says sales since 2015 have raised 'millions of dollars.'
On The Rehearsal season two episode two, Fielder calls Summit Ice his 'proudest achievement' and said it reiterates the stated mission of the current season, proving that 'a comedy show could make a difference.' In the case of this current season of this comedy show, Fielder has been using his trademark elaborate setups (and a whole bunch of HBO money) to ostensibly help empower co-pilots to stand up to captains in dangerous in-flight scenarios.
Lately, Summit Ice has been raising awareness (and again, money) without the episode of its creation even being available to stream.
'In late 2023, I discovered that the episode of Nathan for You featuring the Summit Ice story mysteriously went missing from the Paramount+ streaming service,' Fielder said on The Rehearsal.
So Fielder emailed 'some contacts I had at Paramount.' Striking the correct tone was 'complicated,' he said.
'The tricky thing is, Paramount is currently airing a different series of mine: a scripted drama that hadn't yet been renewed,' Fielder continued, referring to Showtime's (also owned by Paramount) The Curse. It still has not been renewed (or officially canceled). 'How I spoke to them could have career repercussions.'
That's not wholly dissimilar to what can happen when a co-pilot takes the controls from their captain, Fielder argues. A bit of a stretch, but it works.
'I remember wanting to convey how urgent this was for me, and yet my email was extremely cordial, using phrases like 'Forever grateful' and 'Happy Holidays,'' Fielder recalled, pulling up the emails. Fielder hired an actor to re-create the scene as he awkwardly hovered over his shoulder. The Fielder Method, as we're occasionally told.
Paramount told Fielder the Summit Ice episode had been 'taken down intentionally' due to 'sensitivities,' he read off the emails. The decision originated with Paramount+ in Germany, where executives expressed being 'uncomfortable' with 'anything that touches on antisemitism' in the wake of the Israel/Hamas conflict, the emails stated.
It was a local decision that soon went global.
'Before long, the ideology of Paramount+ Germany had spread to the entire globe, eliminating all Jewish content that made them uncomfortable,' Fielder says, adding, 'This is real, by the way.'
It is real: Fielder is correct that the Summit Ice episode is not streaming on Paramount+. The decision came 'following a standards review,' a spokesperson for Paramount told The Hollywood Reporter.
'Currently on the Paramount app, there are 50 results for 'nazi,' 10 for 'Hitler' and zero for 'Judaism,'' Fielder said. 'We've been erased.'
THR re-created those searches, and Fielder is about right, give or take. The results for 'nazi' though includes some kids shows that are definitely not about nazis, so it's an imperfect system. A search for 'jew' yielded four results.
Last night's episode of The Rehearsal goes on to see Fielder visiting a ridiculous re-creation of what he guesses the Paramount Germany offices to look like, as Fielder gives himself a chance to express what he really wanted to say in those hesitant emails.
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