8 TV Episodes That Were Banned For Insane Reasons
4. Sesame Street – The Entire Show
The Episode: Banning an episode or two from a television show is bad enough, but bringing the ban hammer down on an entire series is even more serious (and even more frustrating when the reason as is insane as this). Though many people know of Sesame Street and its cast of charming characters, fewer know just how long the show has been on air, with its premier taking place in November of 1969.
The show is designed to educate children, and it does so through various characters with different personalities and interests, depicting their interactions with children in an attempt to make it all the more relatable. It was the use of these children, however – particularly the determination to make everyone feel included – that lead to the entire show being banned in the state of Mississippi.
Why It Was Banned: In 1970 a state commission in Mississippi voted to ban the show because of its “highly integrated cast of children”. The commission felt the state “was not yet ready for” such integration and so chose to block the entire series. Even crazier is the fact that Jim Henson – most famous for The Muppets but who rose to fame on Sesame Street – is actually from Mississippi.