Mark-Paul Gosselaar is looking back at filming a racist episode of “Saved By The Bell”.
While the actor, 47, is proud to have played Zach Morris on the beloved teen drama in the ’90s, he’s not fond of a particular episode.
On Wednesday’s episode of his “Zack To The Future” podcast, Gosselaar recalled filming the episode, titled “Running Zack” which followed the students at Bayside High after they were tasked with giving presentations about their ancestry.
But Gosselaar’s character Zack Morris took the assignment too far when he mocked Native American heritage by wearing war paint and a headdress.
“I cringed seeing myself portraying a white dude being Zack Morris, who is like the all-American, blond-haired white dude in an Indian Native American headdress,” he said on the episode.
Gosselaar explained that he had blocked the memory from his mind but was reminded of the racist episode when he started the podcast.
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“This is one of those that I don’t, I don’t like remember putting on the headdress. I don’t remember putting face paint on,” the “Mixed-ish” star said. “I don’t remember standing in that awkward way that I was standing where my arms are folded and like a very stereotypical way.”
He continued, “But, again, there are protocols in place to and filters that, you know, like a director, standards and practices, people that I think … we’re much more sensitive now, for good reason, that those things would not happen today.”
He added, “This episode would never get made in current times, and rightly so.”
