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Think of the Censors!

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"I'd swear, but Standards won't let me!"
— Eddy, Ed, Edd n Eddy

Writers who have to deal with Media Watchdogs on a daily basis love nothing more than to make fun of the folks who ruin their fun, usually by slipping in something that they hope the censors wouldn't notice.

This trope, on the other hand, is the inverse of that, where the writers allude to something that would upset the censors, but instead have the characters Breaking the Fourth Wall by acknowledging the censors themselves and how they wouldn't like what the characters are about to do, usually be mentioning the work's intended age group, its timeslot or sometimes even the parent company. Ironically if you think about it, this means that discussing the subject is allowed, but the actual act is not.

This often shows up in cartoons, sometimes as a form of Parental Bonus. In older cartoons this was done as a reference to The Hays Code, but in other media it can also reference The Comics Code and the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

A variation (or justified one, depending on your view) is if the characters are in the company of someone who shouldn't be exposed to naughty language.

Supertrope of You Wanna Get Sued? (where the characters realize that mentioning something copyrighted or protected by law will get them in trouble). Compare Too Hot for TV, Our Lawyers Advised This Trope, Narrative Profanity Filter and Profanity Police.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime and Manga 
  • In Yakitate!! Japan, just as one character is about to reveal his genitals to complete a pun, others tackle him, pleading that the show would be cancelled if he showed his junk on the air.
  • Bleach:
    • Captain Mayuri revives his horribly injured lieutenant Nemu with some offscreen method that causes her to moan in pleasure. Uryu Ishida complains that he can't tell what he saw happen, but is pretty sure it can't be shown on TV.
    • When Chizuru becomes one of the Karakura Rangers, Uryu (as the commentator) notes that only one of her attacks can get past the censors.
  • In the first episode of Lingerie Fighter Papillon Rose "New Season". Papillon Rose was about to do her "Pinky Vibrator" attack from the original hentai-themed OVA, but Rama stops her before she can say the full name, claiming that the censors won't allow them to do that any more.
  • At one point in the Negima! Magister Negi Magi manga, a panicked Konoka readies a censor image and protests that children are reading the comic when Jack Rakan begins getting a bit too perverted. Played for Laughs because the series is a hot-and-sexy PG-13 at best.
  • In Dance in the Vampire Bund, Princess Mina, in a fit of pique, demanded that her personal servant/bodyguard Akira share her bed before she returns the ring he received from an Unlucky Childhood Friend. When he blushed she snapped "I meant sleep beside me otherwise this manga would be canceled"
  • In the first episode of Nyaruko: Crawling with Love!, Mahiro interrupts Nyarko's Motor Mouth rambling and gets her attention by stabbing a fork into the table next to her hand. Her response is a panicked "What are you doing?! Are you trying to get us cancelled?!" Note that in the original light novels, Mahiro's fork-stabs produce fountains of High-Pressure Blood, while in the TV anime they only cause Cranial Eruptions.
  • Pokémon: The Series: Meowth does this a couple of times:
    • He initially refuses to translate Mimikyu's strange choking noises because whatever it's saying is too disturbing. In the English dub, he explains it as:
      Meowth: This is a family show.
    • Another episode has him mention he has a pain in a place he can't say because kids watch this show.
  • Inugami San To Nekoyama San: In episode 3, when Inugami starts licking the tea off of Nekoyama as per her commands, Aki shouts: "You're going to change our airtime!"
  • In the Funimation dub of Crayon Shin-chan, one episode focuses on Encho being a superhero and Ms. Matsuzaka being his arch-enemy turned love interest, Tiger Woman. Eventually, the other teachers want in on the superhero fun and Ms. Yoshinaga, following the cat theme the other teachers are using, calls herself the Pink Pussy, leading to this line:
    Encho: Oh, yeah, the censors are gonna love that one!
    • Funnily enough, the line really was censored when it aired on TV.

    Comic Books 

    Comic Strips 

    Fan Works 
  • Used in Bait and Switch after Eleya has her one night stand with Gaarra in chapter three. (The fic originally appeared on Star Trek Online's forum and FanFiction.Net, both of which have policies against posting NSFW content.)
    Tess: You walk in here looking like a grayth that just dined on prize alicorn and expect nobody to notice? So, how was he?
    Eleya: Mmmm. He was damn good.
    Tess: Details.
    Eleya: Not now, Tess, there are ensigns present.
  • Played with in the The Loud House fanfic Loud Heroes, which has a T rating unlike the original show's TV-Y7 one. At the beginning of the Loud siblings' fight with the fic-original villain Replicate in Chapter 60 (the fic's first chapter with prominent swearing), Luan says "Shit!" when Replicate grasps her. Lori tells Luan to watch her language as if she followed the canon series' rating, only to be told by Lincoln that it isn't necessary because the fic's rating allows them to curse.
    Luan: Getting frustrated? (Replicate sneaks up and suddenly grabs her by the arm) Shit!
    Lori: Ms. Appear! Language!
    Lincoln: We're rated T, it's fine.
  • This dialogue in the Meg's Family Series:
    Stewie: Revenge is my specialty. Just ask Elizabeth Smart. One day, she cut in front of me in a line at McDonald's, so of course I had to—
    Tilly: Don't you dare finish that! Do you want this fic deleted?
  • Ultra Fast Pony. Pinkie Pie's song "Zorba Style" has the lines:
    Pinkie: When I get some good luck
    After my hoovies get stuck
    My Bill will rescue me and then we will...
    wait, I can't say that word.

    Films — Animation 
  • The Lion King (1994), during "Hakuna Matata":
    Pumbaa: And I got downhearted / Every time that I...
    Timon: Wait, Pumbaa! Not in front of the kids!
    Pumbaa: Oh! Sorry...
  • Toy Story, when Woody and Buzz are arguing over whether or not Buzz is a toy.
    Woody: The word I'm searching for, I can't say, because there's preschool toys present.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Bombshell (1933): The Hays Code is specifically cited as the reason why movie star and sex symbol Lola Burns has to re-shoot a scene for her latest movie; the last time she showed too much skin.
  • Road to Morocco, title song:
    I hear this country's where they do the dance of the seven veils
    We'd tell you more, but we would have the censor on our tails
  • In Inspector Gadget (1999), the talking car has to go out of its way to remind Gadget to wear a seatbelt because "It's a Disney movie!"
  • The Marx Brothers' At The Circus: Groucho needs to get some stolen money back from Peerless Pauline, who has put it into Victoria's Secret Compartment.
    There must be some way of getting that money without getting in trouble with the Hays Office.
  • In The Three Stooges film Gypped in the Penthouse, a beautiful woman takes Shemp's ring and hides it in her cleavage, leaving Shemp with a problem:
    Shemp: There must be a way to get that ring back without getting in trouble with the censors.
  • In "Disorder In The Court," Curley takes the stand:
    Baliff: Do you swear...
    Curley: No, but I know all the words!
  • Never Give a Sucker an Even Break: Notorious drinker W. C. Fields strolls into a drugstore and orders an ice cream soda. He asides to the audience: "This scene's supposed to be in a saloon but the censor cut it out. It'll play just as well this way," even blowing the foam off his soda as one would a heady beer. (Supposedly that scene was supposed to be in a bar and censors actually did make him change it.)

    Literature 
  • In Captain Underpants, Harold and George consider creating a crime-fighting urinal named "The Urinator", but remember that such a thing would never be allowed in a children's book. Dav Pilkey, the author of Captain Underpants, revealed that the character was almost a real thing, but when he posed the idea to his wife, she responded that he wouldn't be able to get away with it in a kids' book. Pilkey thought the exchange was so funny that he ended up putting it in the story.
  • Artemis Fowl has the Gnomish curseword "D'arvit". When it's first used the narration points out they might as well leave it untranslated, as it'd only end up censored.

    Live-Action TV 
  • My Name Is Earl: On one episode, Darnell explains that a Show Within a Show had to be split across two weeks as a sweeps stunt likely due to Executive Meddling, to which Joy complains that it's they're fault TV stations don't allow curse words until after "a certain time". She then looks at her watch, and says, "Douchebags."
  • The kids' show You Can't Do That on Television reveled in this.
  • Just Shoot Me!, "How the Finch Stole Christmas"
    Narrator: He expressed his displeasure with color and flair
    Using words that our censors would not let us share.
  • In Episode 45 of Monty Python's Flying Circus, the Bishop and Brigadier try to settle down and talk about their deep feelings for each other. They conclude that there's not much they can do about it on television, even though "they are a lot more permissive these days than they used to be."
  • Played with on the Top Gear Ground Force. After Jeremy Clarkson destroyed James May's shed for the umpteenth time, May paused to ask Clarkson what time the program airs, and more specifically whether or not it's beyond the Watershed. Upon confirming that it is, he starts to scream "You're a f—" but gets cut short by a hard cut over to Richard Hammond.
  • The Colbert Report:
    • Played with when Stephen Colbert interviewed Cee Lo Green regarding his profanity-laden single:
      Stephen Colbert: My guest tonight has a hit song, the name of which I cannot legally say on air. So I dunno how the [bleep] he's gonna sing it.
      Stephen Colbert: [later] This is the family show. We can't have you dropping the F-bomb here. Could I recommend a couple other words you could say instead of [bleep]?
    • Cee Lo ultimately agrees to replace "Fuck you" with the far-more positive "Fox News".
    • The radio edit replaces the "Fuck You" with "Forget You". It could also be an example of this trope, an artist preferring to change his song himself before the real censors can leave it a mass of bleeps or blank space.
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert makes fun of this when PewDiePie was on as a guest. Felix asks Colbert if he wants to learn some Swedish curses, and Stephen says "Sure. I can't say them back to you, but let's make the censors learn Swedish!" Most of the swears Felix provides are bleeped out, though they let "Helvete!" (literally: "Hell!") through.
  • The MythBusters have run up against this more than once. For instance, when testing if it's possible to polish a turd, Adam starts the show by dutifully listing all the euphemisms for "turd" that they're not allowed to use (which, of course, were all bleeped out). In another one, they were testing if swearing helped to deal with pain; Adam made mouth guards to help the censors out by keeping people's foul mouths from needing to be blurred out - "Blurs are expensive, but bleeps are cheap!" They've also been known to make dangerous substances by "mixing blur with blur", verbally acknowledging that the ingredients are being censored in order to prevent viewers at home from learning how to make those substances.
  • Family Feud: When a question or a response on the current incarnation of drifts into questionable waters, Steve Harvey will often note to the contestants that the show's title is "Family Feud" and thus they should think about what they're saying. A borderline example given that he usually says that after the contestant has said something Harvey thinks is inappropriate. And sometimes, much to his chagrin, their answer actually is up on the board, though usually in Unusual Euphemism form.
  • Wheel of Fortune: Multiple times, when a puzzle has shown profanity, Pat will point out the obvious. Examples:
    • HELL-BENT FOR ELECTION.
    • A partially revealed puzzle that eventually was DAVID HASSELHOFF. At one point, the H's and E's were some of the letters that had not been filled in, but the A's and S's were among those revealed. Pat jokingly reprimanded the game coordinator for choosing the puzzle.
    • A partially revealed puzzle that eventually was BARBECUE SPIT. "S_IT" was showing, and the contestant called an "H." "Thankfully, no," remarked Pat before moving the game along to the next contestant.
    • A bonus round puzzle was "CUSSWORDS," to which Pat jokingly stated that they were going to have to wash mouths out with soap.
  • Saturday Night Live usually invokes this trope in conjunction with the Curse Cut Short (or, in some cases, "Very Risque Comment Cut Short") trope.
  • In an episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, one of the Scenes From a Hat was "Things that will get bleeped by the censors." Sure enough, everything the players said was bleeped out.
    • Wayne is especially prone to swearing during "Scene to Rap," but once caught himself and did a verbal backspace "because we're on a family show!"
    • In a lot of scenes for the show that were cut from TV, you'll hear a running joke of a statement along the lines of "You can't say that on TV!"
    • In a game of "Hollywood Director", Brad asks Ryan and Wayne if they want to see his fingers turn blurry. Cue just that when he give them each a one-finger salute.
  • From 1971, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour featured an operatic take on All in the Family with an entirely different cast. The situation dealt with the CBS censor being invited to the Bunkers' for dinner. And playing the CBS censor: Carroll O'Connor.

    Music 
  • In the Newsboys song "Belly of the Whale", which was written for the VeggieTales "Jonah" movie...
    Peter Furler: It might behoove me to be heaved/ Head out like a human comet-
    Larry the Cucumber: Uh, guys, you might not want to rhyme with "comet"!
    • That was the version on the Jonah album. The version used in other media for the film is this:
    Peter Furler: It might behoove me to be heaved/ Head out like a human comet, hmm, I wonder what rhymes with comet?
  • Eric Idle, on Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album, sings "I Bet You They Won't Play This Song on the Radio".
    You can't say *** on the radio
    Or *** or *** or ***
    You can't even say
    "I'd like to *** you someday"
    Unless you're a doctor with a very large ***
  • In Georges Brassens's song Gare au Gorille, a couple of young women are watching a gorilla in his cage, looking at "A precise point that my mother rigorously forbade me to name here". The song ends on a similar note.
  • Salt-N-Pepa's Let's Talk About Sex was about bringing the topic of sex into public discussion, back in the early 90's, and acknowledged that people probably didn't want to hear it.
    Salt: Yo, Pep, I don't think they're gonna play this on the radio
  • Nirvana struggled what final song to play on MTV Unplugged in New York, so they take suggestions from the audience. When one female fan shouted "Rape Me", Kurt Cobain's reply was this:
    Kurt: I don't think MTV would let us play that.

    Radio 
  • I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again regularly visited the BBC Censorship Comittee, portrayed as a bunch of elderly near-senile old buffers who were completely out of touch with Britain in The '60s and who saw filth in even the most innocuous things.
    (John Cleese as Buffer) They say we're unrepresentative! In fact, we're a perfectly reasonable cross-selection of Tory MP's, retired colonels, rural vicars, nuns, prudes and, of course, loonies!

    Podcasts 
  • A running joke on 'Fat, French and Fabulous', where after particularly horrifying/legally questionable jokes, Janel references the podcast's explicit rating and the possibility that it might just get bumped up.

    Video Games 
  • Crash Tag Team Racing has this as one of Neo Cortex's complaints upon being bumped by another racer: "I would've flipped him, but this game is rated E!" For futher context, the game is actually rated E10+.
  • No More Heroes: Jeane doesn't want to tell Travis about her Dark and Troubled Past, because it's awful enough to jack up the age rating on the already M-rated game even further. As a compromise, Travis agrees to fast-forward through the story so the audience wouldn't be subjected to it. For those of you who are curious enough...
    Jeane: "What if the game gets delayed? You don't want this to become No More Heroes Forever, do you?"
  • In Banjo-Tooie, Banjo stops Chief Blotazin from swearing by reminding him that "this is a family game."
  • In Doom RPG, picking up the BFG displays a message that says "We'd tell you what this stood for but this is a family game."
  • Combined with Non-Standard Game Over in JumpStart Adventures 5th Grade: Jo Hammet, Kid Detective. The game's storyline involves stopping a Mad Scientist from blowing up industrial plants. If you fail to disarm one of the bombs, the game's protagonist breaks the fourth wall to inform that you have to try again because bombs can't go off in an educational game.
  • BlazBlue:
    • During Makoto's gag reel in Continuum Shift Extend, Makoto attempts to tell Noel how to imitate daddy's "abs and gun show" routine. She refuses to demonstrate herself or have the act depicted because "we're already on thin ice with the ratings board as it is..." Hello pot, meet kettle.
    • In Ragna's Chronophantasma gag reel, Makoto and Bullet (both enchanted by the Spectacles of Eros Mk.II) try to vie for Ragna's attention with a sort of striptease. Noel stops it by warning that going any further might invoke the dreaded AO rating.
  • Lampshaded in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty as a Hand Wave to the part in Arsenal Gear naked when you're unable to attack or enter in "Hanging Mode". Subverted for the attacking part. You still can, but only with one hand.
    Colonel: Raiden, you won't be able to attack, enter "Choking Mode" or "Hanging Mode" while you're naked.
    Raiden: Why not?
    Colonel: Is it necessary to ask? I just don't think it's right for you perform those kinds of maneuvers. There could be... complications.
  • During the "Pirates vs Ninja" Splatfest announcement from Splatoon, Callie gets a bit suggestive, which her cousin duly notes:
    Callie: It's time to swab the deck and plunder the booty!
    Marie: Whoa there, Callie. Let's keep it E for Everyone.
  • Super Smash Bros.:
    • Throughout development of the series' previous entry, Palutena and a Wonder Pink trophy had to be censored multiple times before they were given the green light by CERO, and a Tharja trophy was outright axed. It happened again when Bayonetta was added as DLC (though her case is a little more understandable). Sakurai made it clear in an interview that he was none too pleased with CERO, calling their policies "juvenile".
    Sakurai: Underwear is just a piece of fabric. If you’re more worried about something trivial like whether you can see some cloth than whether a game includes firearms, you clearly ought to get your priorities in order.
    • In a stream showcasing Terry Bogard for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Masahiro Sakurai says the reason that Mai Shiranui doesn't show up in Terry's stage is because "the game is for good boys and girls". It later became clear that this was a sarcastic jab at CERO's censoring policies, as neither SNK nor Sakurai himself had any apparent objection to the cameo.
  • In the English version of Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana there's a scene where young Norn, who's afraid of going to bed on her own, innocently ask Klein if he can sleep next to her. Klein's response? "I can't, the ESRB would go nuts!" Here's the scene in question.
  • Cassette Beasts: The bestiary entry for Djinn Entonic states that it's not entirely sure what drinks it serves, but that they're "family-friendly" and "not affecting the age rating of the game".

    Visual Novels 

    Web Animation 

    Web Comics 

    Web Video 
  • Critical Role: In his perpetual role as pitchman for D&D Beyond, Sam Riegel took advantage of a Valentine's Day episode during Campaign 2 to compose an erotic poem to the site using D&D-inspired verses:
    "Your Burning Hands, your Shocking Grasp — foreplay. I must Hold my Action or I might... Color Spray!
    No need to be Stealthy, you always get me screaming! Your Finger Of Death makes me cry out — Nope, can't say that while we're streaming!"

    Western Animation 
  • The Ant and the Aardvark: In "Technology Phooey", one of the Aardvark's traps backfires on him, and as he sinks into a pool of quicksand he quips "I'd say something right now, but it would only be censored!"
    • In another installment, the Aardvark puts his head in an ant hill thinking he's blown up the ant with dynamite (he hasn't):
    Aardvark: Hey, ant...whaddya think of that? (kaboom) I know what I think of it, but I shouldn't say it in public!
  • An episode of U.S. Acres on Garfield and Friends had the wolf disguise himself as a businessman, where he convinced everyone on the farm, except for Orson, to procrastinate their jobs. Whenever he mentioned procrastination, the characters would respond with, "You can't talk about that on a kid's show!"
  • Looney Tunes, "A Tale of Two Kitties":
    Babbit: Give me the bird! Give me the bird!
    Catstello: If the Hays Office would only let me, I'd give him the boid, all right.
    • A previously lost gag from "Farm Frolics" (found by animation historians in 2022) has a similar gag, with a spitting grasshopper informing the audience that the Hays Office won't let him spit on-screen. This would be used a year later in "A Hop, a Skip and a Chump."
  • On Rocko's Modern Life, "To Heck and Back":
    Heffer: Wait a minute. Heck? Isn't it supposed to be-
    Peaches: [covers Hef's mouth] Censors.
  • Duck Dodgers features this in an episode that spoofs Samurai Jack. Samurai Duck nearly slices somebody in half, until he says, "Not a robot!" They both agree that thankfully, humans cannot be killed on a show in this age rating.
  • From Rocky and Bullwinkle:
    Boris: I could swear...
    Natasha: Not on this program, dahlink!
  • The Page quote comes from the Ed, Edd n Eddy episode "Ed Overboard", where Edd and and a reluctant Eddy are temporarily sworn in as Urban Rangers.
  • Par for the course, even Earthworm Jim plays with this, in an episode where Psycrow gets a brief job as a cartoon writer:
    Editor: You cannot say this word in a cartoon!
    Psycrow: What word?
    Editor: Uh... I— I can't say.
  • In the Gravity Falls episode "Summerween", the flyer for the party Wendy and Robbie are going to was originally supposed to say "Bottles will be spun". Standards and Practices objected, on the grounds it could be misread as a reference to underage drinking, so it was changed to "Not S&P approved".
  • Sam & Max: Freelance Police:
    • Max uses a variation along the lines of "I never dreamed we could have this much fun and still be suitable for young viewers!".
    • During a skit about the human body, Sam thoughtfully informs us that they're not allowed to show blood when discussing the function of the heart, since it's a children's show. Of course, he says this in front of a completely red background.
  • Family Guy:
    • Done in "The Road to Rhode Island":
      Brian: We may pick up some college girls, and picnic on the grass.
      Stewie: We'd tell you more, but we won't have the censors on our ass.
      Brian: Yikes!
    • Also on the "Road To..." episode where Stewie and Brian travel to London to see Jolly Farm, there was Stewie's line about Brian during their "We're Too Different to Ever Be Pals" song: "And you get a kick out of stroking your..." Brian cuts him off with the old, "You can't say that on TV" line, but the trope is subverted (and a played straight version of the Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion trope) when Stewie tells Brian that the word he was about to say was "ego."
    • It's somewhat subverted in another episode, when Chris is dating a girl who looks exactly like Lois:
      Stewie: Looks like somebody's getting a little Oedipussy.
      Brian: Can we say that?
      Stewie: Just did.
  • Histeria! didn't try to dodge the censor; rather the censor would actually come out "onstage" and let viewers know that what's being mentioned isn't appropriate for kids' TV (such as "vestal virgins," the Roman vomitoriums, the name of toilet inventor Thomas Crapper, or the phrases "War is hell" and "Damn the torpedoes") and would sometimes try to change it into something more appropriate (like when Billy the Kid told the kids on his show to go out to the shed and get his gun, the censor came out and told him that what he was suggesting kids do would lead to copycat accidents — and then she dressed him up like a girl so the network can get bigger ratings from girl viewers). The fact that the quotes and names are actual historical facts and Histeria! was an educational show probably helped to keep the real censors at bay.
  • Popeye
    • "Shape Ahoy," ends with a Frank Sinatra look-alike sailing away with Olive Oyl on a raft. Popeye and Bluto look on, flabbergasted, and then say "Well I'll be a —", and at that moment two real-life hands cover their mouths. They finish the sentence silently with a gigantic "CENSORED" over each of their mouths.
    • In "Cartoons Ain't Human," Popeye is animating his own cartoon. He sees a calendar pin-up girl and proceeds to draw something. A live action hand shows up and stamps "Censored" on it.
  • Animaniacs: In general, whenever something off-color was implied, Yakko would tell the audience "Goodnight, everybody!" as if they were going to be pulled off the air any minute. It's one of his Catch Phrases, which says a lot about the show's kind of humour.
    • In "Turkey Jerky", a pilgrim hunting a turkey orders Yakko, Wakko, and Dot to "Give me the bird!" Yakko responds with "We'd love to, really, but the Fox censors won't allow it." (in a possible nod to "A Tale of Two Kitties")
    • A similar gag shows up in "This Pun For Hire", when a MacGuffin in the form of a bird statue falls into the Warners' hands.
      Minerva Mink: Never mind that! Just give me the bird.
      Dot: We can't, this is a family show.
    • This trope gets thrown out in a "Wheel of Morality" bit, when Wakko's response to Yakko's "It's that time again!" is "To make the Fox censors cry?"
    • In one of the "Dot's Poetry Corner" segments, Dot recites "Ode to a Veggie":
      Dot: Beans, beans, the musical fruit
      The more you eat, the more you get kicked off the air for finishing this poem.
    • Their Night Before Christmas parody included the line "He then laid his finger inside of his nose/Which our dear network censor finds totally gross."
    • The reboot continues this trend as well, with several more instances of "Goodnight Everybody!", some cut-off or bait-and-switch swears, two instances of the word "hell", and this memorable exchange (with the conductor known for messing up his m words):
      Conductor: Somebody get this little monster trucker off of me!!
      Wakko: Ooh! I think he meant mo–
      Yakko: (covering his brother’s mouth) No no no! Not in front of the kids!
  • One of the lines in the theme song of Tiny Toon Adventures is "We crack up all the censors!"
  • One episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force started with Frylock telling Meatwad he can't say the word "Jesus Christ" on T.V. because of Standards and Practices, which is then followed by a parody video about censors. For the rest of the episode, Jesus is called "Gee Whiz" (the name of the episode) and curse words are censored with giant red "X"s and various dumb sound effects.
  • Phineas and Ferb:
    • In "Raging Bully", Buford picks a fight with Phineas, and there's a big build-up to the confrontation, including a Training Montage and the construction of a large stadium. Then the referee tells Buford and Phineas "In no way should this ensuing fight contain the image of potentially harmful, hurtful, or psychologically disturbing physical acts that could be found imitable by an impressionable child viewer" (a direct quote of Disney's Standards and Practices guidelines), and much to Buford's disappointment they're forced to settle it with a comically over-the-top thumb-wrestling match.
    • In "The Inator Method", Buford's ride in the planetary race is Uranus, which he pronounces as "Ouranos".
      Baljeet: That is not how it is pronounced, Buford.
      Buford: It is on this channel.
  • Kaeloo has its protagonist Kaeloo constantly remind her friends that they are on TV and are being watched by children, and that the viewers' parents or the censor board might get mad at them.
  • The Amazing World of Gumball: The plot of "The Bus" involves a time bomb in a brief case, but Principal Brown acknowledges that everyone is "legally obliged" not to refer to it as such. Throughout the episode, characters are cut off before they can say it, get drowned out by loud noises or use euphemisms, but the word "bomb" is never fully uttered.
  • The finale of The Robonic Stooges, "Stooges, You're Fired (or The Day the Mirth Stood Still)" has the trio being tried by their higher-ups for ineptitude.
    Judge: Do you swear...
    Curly: Ah-ah, naughty naughty! You know swearing's not allowed on TV!
  • In the first Hoppity Hooper story arc, a hitman fires his gun at Hoppity and misses due to Hoppity's wild hopping. The hitman comments "I'd have a line here, but it would only get censored!"
  • In the Woody Woodpecker short "Operation Sawdust" Buzz Buzzard gets hoist on his own petard thanks to Woody, and just as Buzz starts his tirade on Woody, he is silenced with a "Censored" stamp over the screen.
  • Tex Avery's MGM short "The Early Worm Gets The Bird" has a dim cat's profanity (happens after he hits his head on a tree branch) silenced with "Censored" plastered on screen.

 
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Turkey Jerky

"We'd love to really, but the Fox censors won't allow it!"

A Tale of Two K...

Scotland Yard P...

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Turkey Jerky

"We'd love to really, but the Fox censors won't allow it!"

How well does it match the trope?

5 (16 votes)

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Main / ThinkOfTheCensors

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Turkey Jerky

A Tale of Two K...

Scotland Yard P...