The Top Ten Most Banned Cartoons

As children of the ‘90s, we grew up with some pretty controversial stuff.  In a changing world where everything offends somebody and you can't have a cup of hot coffee without someone's ass getting sued off, we carelessly matured, laughed and learned.   Australian Web site "yourtv.com.au" examined cartoons that were met with criticism across the globe.  This article will examine their top 10 selections and discuss them from the perspective of the United States.

SpongeBob Squarepants—Heralding from Bikini Bottom, America quickly embraced SpongeBob and his obnoxious antics.  Fans of all ages fell in love with SpongeBob, and even TIME magazine put SpongeBob on their list of greatest television shows of all time.  As with anything that becomes a popular piece of pop culture, SpongeBob did not escape the nets of those who choose to find something wrong with everything people enjoy.

SpongeBob was briefly under attack by right-wing nut-jobs like Focus on the Family which, if you've never heard of, you should consider yourself lucky.  This is because SpongeBob was supposedly gay, because the sponge appeared in a commercial that advocates diversity.  The commercial was sponsored by a pro-gay group.  SpongeBob's creators insisted that SpongeBob was asexual, and comedienne Margaret Cho, on her DVD Assassin, shared some remarkable insight into SpongeBob's sexual preference: "SpongeBob is a sponge."   Maybe Focus on the Family needs a new focus, but then again, they are still in business; obviously somebody is buying those magazines.

Tiny Toon Adventures—With its pop music videos and teenage humor, most of us didn't fully appreciate Tiny Toons until we were too old for it.  However, one episode of Tiny Toons gained notoriety and later was banned for showing Buster, Plucky and Hamton getting drunk off beer and crashing a police car off a cliff.  Go to YouTube to check it out; you'd be surprised the déjà vu you'll get: yes, you watched it, too!

Mind you, the episode clearly shows alcohol as an agent that turns the cartoon characters into scummy, trashy bums.  However, given that many of our college experiences have been quite similar to those of the Tiny Toons (except, of course, stealing cars…hopefully) and we haven't all turned into bums, it leaves me to conclude the episode is sort of like Grand Theft Auto meets college life.

Beavis and Butthead—Many of us growing up in the ‘90s remember our older siblings and peers being allowed to watch something called "Beavis and Butthead" that we were not supposed to see.  Of course we snuck up and watched it, since it was aired late at night.  The crude humor, however, wasn't enough to get it pulled; a few episodes were censored due to current events issues.

Family Guy—Americans were generally much more receptive of Family Guy than other cultures, but globally people were not as accepting of the humor portrayed in the series.  Many countries have banned Family Guy from airwaves, and America is not without its own anti-Family Guy-ism; ParentsTV, another group of "save the family" whackos, actually went out of their way to report Family Guy to the FCC twice—once about an episode making fun of the FCC!  (Kudos to Wikipedia for that information.)

The Simpsons—It goes without much say that the Simpsons changed prime time television, but most of us weren't around for the pre-Simpsons world.  I don't get how the Simpsons even made it on the top 10 banned cartoons list, but according to the article on yourtv.com.au, Russia and Venezuela both decided to do away with the Simpsons.  They're missing out, I guess.

Popetown—I had no idea what the hell Popetown is until I went on Youtube and found it in German.  I can see how Catholics would get offended by this one.  The Pope on a pogo stick?  Iconoclasm at its best!  I'd probably find this show a lot funnier if I could watch it in English, but then again, I'm not religious.

South Park—Do I even need to elaborate on this one?  However, I can't understand why the wholesome people who would be offended by South Park would watch it in the first place.  South Park is aired later at night than other "offensive" programs, which allows it to get away with more controversial material than similar programming aired during the day.  Naturally the ParentsTV crew is gung-ho against South Park, and a couple episodes have been banned here and there.

Ren and Stimpy—We were all way too young to watch Ren and Stimpy when it was aired as one of the very first Nicktoons, but we watched it anyway.  While it seemed funny then, the show has a lot of disgusting humor which influenced children to behave in a crude manner, as well as plenty of violence and potty language to go around!  It probably should have aired on a network geared more towards teenagers than the kiddies.

Looney Tunes—If you're an upperclassman, I'm sure you've encountered the story of the old racist Looney Tunes cartoons.  I can see how the article ranked Looney Tunes at number two; however, I also think this article could have mentioned the plethora of other controversial cartoons from the ‘30s and ‘40s that, while then considered comical, derived their humor from hurtful racial stereotyping, predominantly towards the African-American community.

These messages could not even be justified as "laughing at oneself" like many jokes in shows like Family Guy.  Do your own research and check these out; you'd be surprised at the environment our grandparents grew up in.  Many of these cartoons also involve World War II; the plot usually involves an "American" cartoon character encountering a squad of Germans or Japanese, who are portrayed as being less intelligent.