The Simpsons is one of the few witty, unforgettable,
and insanely popular animated series, with its dialogues and jokes clearly interwoven
into the fabric of society. However, the show has experienced compromises
and censorship over the years, whether it’s episodes being ripped to shreds
or getting outright banned. Here are the eleven times that The Simpsons was censored.
Starting off this list, we were shown Homer’s Drug Use in "Weekend At Burnsie's.”
In season 13, episode titled “Weekend At Burnsie's,” Homer falls into addiction after
overusing the drug that was medically prescribed to him. Despite the success it brings him at work,
the drug’s other consequences are quite negative for him, which becomes so alarming
that his family gets concerned as well. Although this episode received a TV-14 rating in the US,
FOX decided to tone back the severity of Homer’s drug use.
The subject matter of the episode could promote drug abuse to young viewers. The UK
was even more uncomfortable airing the episode and hence it was banned in the region for years.
Today, viewers may be able to look for this episode, but it still holds its “uncut” status.
Another censored episode of The Simpsons features Gun Use in “The Cartridge Family”
Besides drug abuse, another aspect of the Simpsons
that attracted censorship is the unacceptable depiction of gun use in the season nine episode
“The Cartridge Family.” After witnessing a wild soccer riot in town, Homer decides to
purchase a handgun in order to protect his family. However, he fails to handle the weapon correctly
and ends up treating it like a toy in a highly irresponsible manner. In fact, during one scene,
Homer casually points the gun at Marge’s face, as if it’s no big deal. Later on, Bart repeats
the act with Milhouse when the two ‘play.’ Homer’s reckless gun use definitely conveyed a
negative message to the viewers, which could even lead to disastrous consequences. For this reason,
the TV channel ‘Sky One’ went ahead with banning this episode entirely,
while the US rebroadcasts still continue to omit the two problematic gunplay scenes.
Making it to this list is the Depiction of Rio De Janeiro in “Blame It On Lisa”
Another Simpsons episode that seldomly airs due to its controversy is season 13’s “Blame It On Lisa.”
It sees the Simpsons heading to Brazil in search of the South American orphan that Lisa sponsors
when they learned the child goes missing. The plot is set in Brazil’s second-most populous city,
Rio De Janeiro. Despite the episode having good intentions, it depicted Rio negatively,
which, quite frankly, is hard to ignore. Most of the plot revolves around Homer being held for
ransom due to a lack of safety in the city. Rio is also shown to be a center of crime,
slum areas, and rat infestations. If that wasn’t enough, the episode also failed to
represent Brazilian culture accurately, mixing it with that of other Latin American countries.
So it doesn’t come as a surprise that the tourist board of Rio De Janeiro was quite furious at this
Simpsons episode and even threatened to sue the creators of the show. Although the charges were
later dropped after an official apology, “Blame It On Lisa” is still a disputable episode.
Next on this list shows us a disturbing scene of Suicide bombing in “Day Of The Jackanapes”
Season 12 episode “Day Of The Jackanapes” follows Sideshow Bob’s release from prison, after which
he attempts hypnotizing Bart to kill Krusty the Clown. Bob’s inhumane murder plan was already
disturbing enough yet the episode took things a bit too far when it showed Bart blowing himself
up while wearing a suicide vest. The scene was definitely dark, disturbing, and even triggering
for some viewers, which is why ‘Sky One’ decided to drop this episode entirely from 2002-2004.
Moving on, one episode involves Offensive jokes in “Cape Feare”
It must’ve been hard to be a Simpsons fan in Germany during the ‘90s since one
of the show’s all-time best episodes was skipped in the rotation. Aired in 1993,
“Cape Feare” is the second episode of season five and features the return of Sideshow Bob
to Springfield for revenge against Bart for exposing his murder plot. Simpsons fans know
there’s a lot to appreciate in the episode. In fact, in 2003, Entertainment Weekly named
it the third greatest episode in the show’s entire history. So, what set Germany off? Well,
it was McBain’s stand-up material at the start of the episode that had the episode
banned in Germany. It turns out the offensive jokes were just too much for the country.
The next episode displays heavy Graphic violence in “Treehouse of Horror XXVII”
The Simpsons’ annual Halloween specials, aka the “Treehouse of Horror” segments, involve some of
the most savage displays of violence in the show’s history. One of these installments, “Treehouse of
Horror XXVII” seemingly attempts to showcase way more violence than the sitcom was allowed to.
It is also the 600th episode, which may be why the show’s creators carelessly went overboard.
“Treehouse of Horror XXVII” inclined towards way more violence than most viewers could handle,
particularly during the “BFF R.I.P” and “Moe Finger” segments. As a result,
the Halloween episode was taken off the schedule for the New Zealand network ‘TVNZ.’
Next in our list sees Homer Offending the Russian Orthodox Church in “Looking for Mr Goodbart”.
While some of the show’s episodes were censored due to their graphic or violent content,
others became controversial due to disrespect or offense towards a particular culture.
One such episode is season 28’s “Looking for Mr Goodbart''. While hinting at the
popular Pokemon Go phenomenon, it follows Homer’s obsession with the mobile app’s
parody called ‘Peekimon Get’. He’s eventually shown playing the ARG title in the church,
which was perceived as an attack on the Russian Orthodox Church. For this reason,
the Russian broadcast network ‘2 x 2’ banned this Simpsons episode altogether.
The Simpsons faced a massive backlash too for Defaming New Orleans in “A Streetcar Named Marge”
“A Streetcar Named Marge” is an episode from season four and highlights Homer and Marge
reaching a delightful common ground. However, the episode is still notorious due to a song
that describes New Orleans negatively. The peppy musical number is from a movie called “Oh!
Streetcar!” for which Margie auditions and gets a role. The name of the movie and this episode's
entire title is an obvious reference to the 1951 movie “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Perhaps this
is what the show wanted to fixate the spotlight on, but the sarcastic song pointing towards New
Orleans ended up facing significant backlash. The writers later apologized for this. In the
next episode opening, Bart repeatedly writes, “I will not defame New Orleans” on the blackboard.
An episode was also censored for coinciding with the news on The
Washington Sniper in “Wild Barts Can’t Be Broken.”
Other radical instances of censorship can be caused by unfortunate timing. Even if an aspect
of the plot is not intentionally offensive, it can be viewed in a whole different light when recent
events add another context. A major example is the season ten episode “Wild Barts Can’t Be Broken,”
which depicts an interesting interaction between Springfield’s youth and adults. When the town’s
children are blamed for wrecking the grounds and indoors of the local elementary school,
Chief Wiggum imposes a strict sunset curfew on them. In the same episode,
there were two dialogues that made BBC 2 postpone its premiere and set it aside from consideration.
Moe’s line, “that sniper at the all-star was a blessing in disguise”
and Wiggum’s dialogue, “any child found outside after dark will be shot,” later
became problematic statements amidst the Washington sniper attacks in October of 2002.
The show has a track record of offending countries,
and it happened again because of a Seizure scene in “Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo”
In season 10’s episode titled “Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo,” the Simpsons take a last-minute holiday
to Tokyo after going on a budget and saving plenty. Later, however, they end up losing all
their money, which eventually leaves them with no option but to participate in a dangerous Japanese
game show in exchange for the airfare back home. The episode doesn’t shy away from pointing out
every Japanese stereotype you could possibly think of, and it’s safe to say the show crossed the line
during one scene. In one part of the episode, Homer and others willfully induce seizures via
anime as a means of relaxing, which was quite offensive for Japanese viewers. So
it comes as no surprise that channels in Japan completely disapproved of this Simpsons episode
by banning it. They even refused to include it in their official season ten DVD set.
Finally, one of the worst offense that The Simpsons committed is airing an episode
about The World Trade Center in “The City Of New York Vs. Homer Simpson.”
One of the biggest cases of censorship throughout the Simpsons was the season nine episode “The City
Of New York Vs. Homer Simpson”. The episode aired four years before the devastating 9/11 attacks.
Due to the main plot being centered around the World Trade Center, the episode was later removed
in the United States from 2001 to 2006. Although some TV networks began to air the episode again,
the British channel ‘Sky One’ did not do so until 2005. The station made several cuts to remove
some scenes, especially the one involving the dialogue, “They stick all the jerks in
Tower One.” This episode was among the most prominent ones from the show that went under fire.
The controversial case surrounding it is unknown to even some of the most die-hard Simpsons fans.
But let us know in the comment section: CAN YOU THINK OF OTHER CONTROVERSIAL EPISODES FROM THE
SIMPSONS? And tell us what we should cover next. Remember to hit that notification bell
and binge more of our videos. But most importantly, stay wicked.