The Golden Girls has been in the news lately due to Hulu taking down an episode featuring mud masks (which the Disney-owned service believes could be taken as blackface). But instead of repainting The Golden Girls franchise as somehow behind the times, we need to remember how progressive the franchise actually was. Case in point–this scene featuring Don Cheadle in The Golden Girls spinoff, The Golden Palace.

The spinoff was short-lived, but it gave viewers this poignant episode, “Camp Town Races Aren’t Nearly As Much Fun As They Used To Be,” in which Cheadle’s character, the manager of The Golden Palace hotel, forces Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan) to confront the racist history behind her beloved Confederate flag, which was hung while the hotel hosted a function for the Daughters of the Traditional South. The scene showcases how the flag has been refashioned in the minds of white southerners as a symbol of righteousness and liberty, when it’s actually a symbol of hate and slavery.

This clip has been showcased before on social media, but it’s become even more relevant in the wake of the George Floyd protests and mass removals of Confederate monuments all over the country, including Mississippi’s state flag, which contained the Confederate flag in its overall design.

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Photo: Touchstone Television

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