'Animaniacs' Hit With Major Censorship During TV Broadcasts

'Animaniacs' Hit With Major Censorship During TV Broadcasts,The 2020 Animaniacs reboot is airing on Cartoon Network Latin America right now, but it has reportedly been heavily censored for the broadcast. Animaniacs was revived in 2020 on Hulu in the U.S. and has since aired two more seasons. According to a report by ANMTV, the broadcasts in [...]

‘Animaniacs’ Hit With Major Censorship During TV Broadcasts

The 2020 Animaniacs reboot is airing on Cartoon Network Latin America right now, but it has reportedly been heavily censored for the broadcast. Animaniacs was revived in 2020 on Hulu in the U.S. and has since aired two more seasons. According to a report by ANMTV, the broadcasts in Spanish-speaking countries to the south of the U.S. have been heavily cut to avoid innuendo and vulgarity.

Animaniacs premiered on Cartoon Network Latin America in March of 2023, and from the start, fans began documenting the cuts and alterations to the episodes on social media. Comparing the episodes side-by-side with the originals, it was clear that many scenes were removed while others were changed in surprising ways. In one example, a scene from the Pinky and The Brain sketch in Episode 1 showed Pinky pulling off a bathrobe while speaking with The Brain. Although the two cartoon mice do not typically wear any clothes to begin with, the shot of Pinky actually taking the robe off was removed. The episode now cuts joltingly from a view of Pinky wearing the robe to one where it is off.

No se si lo notaron, pero en el estreno de Animaniacs 2020 por Cartoon Network Latinoamerica, hubo una pequeña censura que no se si lograron notar pic.twitter.com/UMMDPx6mBl

— ßoniMaxi (@ElBoniMaxi) May 9, 2023

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.

#AVANCEDurante la reposición del Episodio 2 del reboot de @TheAnimaniacs fue censurada la toma de Odiseo siendo restregado en los pezones del Ciclope Trump.A continuación, la versión editada por @CartoonLA, grabada por nuestro redactor @JoJosMota1 (Falla de Origen). pic.twitter.com/URUbqUZ0fA

— Anime, Manga y TV (@ANMTVLA) May 20, 2023

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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