'Animaniacs' Censorship Controversy, Explained

By Michael Hein

Animation fans in Latin America were angry last month when Cartoon Network Latin America began airing the 2020 revival of Animaniacs. The show aired as a Hulu original series here in the U.S., but according to a report by ANMTV it was broadcast in several Spanish-speaking countries earlier this year. The catch is that those broadcasts were heavily edited – in some case, in surprising ways.

Fans in Latin America documented some of the changes to Animaniacs on social media, and some of them were cut to avoid innuendo and vulgarity as the censors saw it. Some scenes were removed altogether and others were hastily changed in odd ways – for example, a sketch from Episode 1 showed Pinky pulling off his bathrobe during a conversation with The Brain. Although Pinky generally does not wear any clothes, the episode was edited so that viewers would not see Pinky removing the robe, instead cutting ahead to the moment when he was shown without it. Viewers were perplexed by these changes and many were against censorship on principle.

Small changes like this have been documented throughout the show's Latin American cable run so far. Meanwhile, some entire episodes were reportedly left out of the broadcast as well, including Episode 8 and Episode 10 of Season 1. Since the episodes have an anthology-style to them, it's hard to guess why exactly they were left out altogether. in Episode 8, one segment focuses on Wakko trying to figure out who ate his donuts, while another focuses on Brain running for president. He genetically alters Julia to be his ideal First Lady for the campaign. Finally, in the third section, an alien named Starbox is trying to enact an invasion of Earth but is held captive by a little girl named Cindy.

In Episode 10, the Animaniacs head to Russia to complain about a bootleg version of their own show, and Brain battles a toddler who has accidentally gotten superpowers only to be captured by average teens and tormented like a lab rat. The episode ends with a mock press conference by the Warners, with the studio trying to stop them from spoiling Season 2.

In many cases, fans were not necessarily upset because they particularly wanted to see the jokes and sketches that were left out, or that they believed these moments were integral to the show. Instead, they were disturbed by the increasing prevalence of censorship and the casual way these changes were made. ANMTV's report referred to other recent acts of censorship by Cartoon Network Latin America, especially when it came to anime.

The Animaniacs were always known for being provocative and topical, from their original run in the 1990s to the modern iteration. The show did not shy away from the news of the day but it did not go out of its way to shock audiences either. In the U.S., you can still stream all the episodes as they originally aired on Hulu.

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