Disney Pulls Tonight’s “Jessie” Premiere Over Gluten Issues
Disney Channel has pulled tonight’s new episode of JESSIE (“Quitting Cold Koala”) over “references to gluten restrictions in the character’s diet”, according to a post on the channel’s official Facebook page. The full message reads:
To our viewers, we received your feedback about tonight’s “Jessie” episode which some of you accessed early on Video-on-Demand. We are removing this particular episode from our regular programming schedule and will re-evaluate its references to gluten restrictions in the character’s diet. Please accept our apologies for the upset this episode caused you and your family. We value your feedback and thank you for watching Disney Channel.
Repeats of the episode are being replaced with other episodes from the series.
A similar issue happened in 2008 with a Hannah Montana episode dealing with diabetes. The episode was originally released on-demand (titled “No Sugar Sugar”) a week before its scheduled on-air premiere (as Disney always does with their original series) and was pulled from the schedule after parents complained. The episode finally aired over a year later under a different name (“Uptight (Oliver’s Alright)”) with new scenes.