• From offensive lines that had to be changed to cartoon scenes traumatising kids across
the world, we count 15 cartoons forcefully changed or even banned because of their controversial
content 15 - Family Guy "Abortion",
• Abortion is a touchy subject in the US, so when Family Guy decided to take it on,
the episode was quickly banned from airing on TV
• The episode's plot was essentially: Lois becomes a surrogate mother for a friend, but
when the friend is killed Lois and Peter have to decided if they should abort or give the
baby up for adoption • Peter agrees on the abortion, but quickly
has his mind changed when he agrees that abortion is murder - Lois has the abortion anyway
14 - Spongebob, • In 2005, there was a religious group in
America threatening to take down the show - their argument being that Spongebob was
a gay icon because he was too cheerful all the time and they didn't like that
• Likewise in 2006, China was banned from showing Spongebob on their airways - not because
of the content or censorship issues, but simply because it was a foreign show in a prime time
TV slot 13 - Aladdin,
• Of course, this wasn't a banned episode, but they did have to censor a line at the
very start of the movie just to get it released • In the opening song, a character describes
Arabia as a place where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face - American-Arabs
immediately objected to this stereotype • Instead the line became: where it's flat
and immense and the heat is intense, but kept the line about Arabia being a barbaric place
to the dismay of critics 12 - Pokemon Episode "Computer Soldier Porygon",
• A well known incident that occurred in Japan in 1997 - the episode "Computer Soldier
Porygon" showed intense flashing blue and red lights on the screen for seconds at a
time • As soon as this episode aired, people
began complaining of blurred vision, dizziness and nausea - some lost consciousness
• According to Japan's Fire Defense Agency, over 600 people were taken to hospital with
2 remaining there for weeks on end - the episode was promptly banned
11 - Ren & Stimpy "Man's Best Friend", • This is the cartoon that merged children
and adult humour mixed with surrealism - and although the creators were constantly fighting
with the censors to keep their jokes in the show, one particular episode pushed it too
far • "Man's Best Friend" shows Ren brutally
beating another character called George Liquor with an oar, George's eye protruding from
its socket, Ren telling Stimpy that he's next • It was so intense for a kid's show that
rumour has it Ren & Stimpy's creator was fired for making the show too frightening and dramatic
for children 10 - Speedy Gonzales,
• The famous Looney Tunes mouse, a role model for Mexicans and Latin American's alike
- pulled from the air in 1999 by Cartoon Network • They went on record claiming Speedy and
the characters around him were a poor role model for kids, ethnic stereotypes in the
form of lazy and alcohol-addicted characters • But to their surprise, heaps of members
in the Hispanic-American rights organisations threw up campaigns to get it back on the air,
and three years later they succeeded 9 - Dexter's Laboratory "Silver Spooner",
• A 1996 episode that lampoons Silver Surfer from the Fantastic Four comic series - it
was banned in several major countries including England, Canada and America
• The reasons were twofold: first there was the Silver Spooner character that enacts
a huge number of homosexual stereotypes, and a Justice Friends character binging alcohol
until he starts to vomit • It aired just once in 2002, but hasn't
appeared on airways since 8 - The Simpsons "Cartridge Family",
• In 2008, Venezuela banned one of the most commercially successful cartoons of all time
because the President thought it too unsuitable for children
• Meanwhile over in the UK, channel Sky One refused to air a season nine episode The
Cartridge Family featuring guns, while, like Venezuela, Russia banned the show in 2008
because of a number of reasons • "It promotes violence, cruelty, pornography,
mayhem, physical and ethical suffering, and also invokes fear, panic and terror in children"
• I'm not entirely sure I've been watching the same show as Russia
7 - Family Guy "Sarah Palin", • A single line from this one episode of
Family Guy in which a character with Down Syndrome explains her dad is an accountant
and her mom the former governor of Alaska - a reference to Sarah Palin who has a child
with Down Syndrome • Sarah immediately took to Facebook to
let everyone know she was hurt and upset over the remark, but the characters voice actor,
who also has down syndrome, had something else to say
• She says Governor Palin doesn't have a sense of humour, and that her parents raised
her to have one - that at least her own mother didn't parade her kid around like a loaf of
bread looking for sympathy and votes • An outrageously epic burn
6 - Cow & Chicken "Buffalo Gals", • An episode from '98 about a group of biker
chicks filled with lesbian innuendos - their description is "a gang that randomly breaks
into people's homes and chews their carpets • Which describes the fact that, in the
show, they literally chew on carpets - but since the show is already filled with often-times
raunchy humour, it wasn't too big on its own • But later at a softball match the Buffalo
Gals would talk about pitching and catching - references to sex, and this tipped it over
the edge 5 - Beavis and Butthead "Comedians",
• 1993, a not-so controversial episode about these two cartoon characters burning down
a comedy club - this would have been fine except one 5-year-old kid decided to get inspired
by what he saw • He set fire to his trailer, killing his
baby sister, so MTV pulled the episode and when it did return, all references to the
burning were removed - but eventually they just removed the episode entirely
4 - Popetown, • A crazy sitcom about the Pope, a man with
the mental maturity of a four-year-old and his handler Father Nicholas
• It involved sexual nature, corruption and greed - so naturally, the Roman Catholics
attacked it immediately and the show was banned the minute it premiered all over the world
• Only 10 episodes were produced, and it offended people SO much that it isn't even
available on DVD in a bunch of countries 3 - Pokemon "Beauty and the Beach",
• An episode in which female characters do a beauty contest, including James of Team
Rocket wearing inflatable breasts • He taunts Misty, shaking his boobs in
her face saying "maybe when you're older, you'll have a chest like this"
• This small scene was the only reason the episode was cancelled, it was later cut out
and the original only ever shown once in Japan 2 - Tiny Toon "One Beer",
• A show for little kids, tamer than Looney Tunes except for one episode, so completely
inappropriate that I'm pretty sure they only created it to take the piss
• The toons find a beer and start drinking, then, once they're all wasted, they steal
a car and start driving around • But here's the best part - the episode
ends with them driving off a cliff only to hit the ground and die
• A harsh lesson about life to all the 3 year olds out there
1 - Song of the South • One of the lost Disney films from 1946
that hasn't seen a release on DVD in the U.S for one very good reason - it's highly racist
• Despite the fact it features extremely well known music like Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, this
post-Civil War South movie has slaves happily going about their duties, idyllic master-slave
relationships, as if it were a good thing • Suffice to say, Disney are well aware
they'd have millions of angry parents come down on them if they even considered printing
this to mainstream disc