13 "Offensive" TV Episodes That Embarrassed Their Creators

10. "Justice" - Quantum Leap

Quantum Leap Justice
NBC

Episode four of Quantum Leap's fourth season, "Justice", revolves around Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) leaping into the body of a Ku Klux Klan member, and subsequently attempting to rescue a black civil rights activist from being lynched.

Though the episode was finally made available when season four hit DVD in 2006, prior to that NBC opted not to re-air the episode after its original 1991 airing for a number of reasons.

For starters, the episode begins with Sam having to "play along" as a Klan member, while some have misguidedly interpreted the episode's message as "even KKK members have a little good inside them." To top it all off, the N-word is used eleven times throughout the 45-minute episode.

It's great that fans were eventually allowed to own the episode some 15 years after its original air date, but clearly this TV ban was nothing more than abject cowardice on the part of NBC, fearful of being branded racists by knee-jerk critics.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.