Censorship has long sparked fierce debate—some see it as an authoritarian weapon, others view it as a necessary guardian of public morals. In the wild world of movies, TV, and comics, there are countless ridiculous instances where the attempts to police content either backfired spectacularly or simply made things worse.

Ridiculous Instances That Shaped Pop Culture

10 Adultery Is Bad, Incest Is Okay

Mogambo (1953) is an African adventure starring Clark Gable as big‑game hunter Victor Marswell. The plot revolves around a love triangle between Gable, Ava Gardner’s Eloise Kelly, and Grace Kelly’s Linda Nordley, whose husband Donald also appears.

Linda’s marriage is the narrative device that keeps Marswell at arm’s length and eventually drives him into depression and heavy drinking. Francoist Spain’s censors, however, found the adulterous affair intolerable.

To make the story acceptable, the Spanish dub rewrote Linda and Donald as brother and sister instead of husband and wife. The result? Every scene that originally suggested a married couple now implied incest between siblings—something the censors apparently found far less objectionable.

9 Censorship Jumps The Shark

In 1999, TV Guide crowned Arthur Fonzarelli (Fonzie) the fourth‑greatest TV character of all time. Across eleven seasons of Happy Days, Fonzie’s rebellious swagger was anchored by his iconic leather jacket—a piece now housed in the Smithsonian.

ABC’s standards department feared the jacket made Fonzie look like a hoodlum and pushed for a bland gray windbreaker instead. Show creator Garry Marshall argued that the edgy look was the very thing that set Fonzie apart.

After a tense standoff, a compromise emerged: Fonzie could wear the leather jacket, but only when standing next to his motorcycle, which the network labeled “safety equipment.” The rule vanished after the first season, but early‑season footage still shows Fonzie next to his bike even indoors, while the occasional windbreaker appears in other scenes.

8 Showgirls Without The Show Or The Girls

The 1995 erotic drama Showgirls is infamous as one of the worst movies ever made, yet it became a cult favorite and generated over $100 million from video rentals alone. Elizabeth Berkley’s transformation from the squeaky‑clean Saved by the Bell teen to a foul‑mouthed stripper is the film’s main draw.

Because of its explicit content, the movie received an NC‑17 rating—the only film to ever enjoy a wide theatrical release with that label. When home‑video success prompted a TV edit, the most absurd changes were made.

All sex scenes were excised with obvious, jarring cuts, profanity was replaced by terrible dubbing, and digital bras—reminiscent of a Microsoft Paint sketch—were slapped onto every stripper. The artificial bras wobble comically, betraying the edit’s desperate attempt to sanitize the original.

7 Lucy Is Enceinte

I Love Lucy broke new ground as the first sitcom shot with multiple cameras on 35 mm film, allowing high‑quality preservation and syndication. In its second season, Lucille Ball became pregnant—only the second lead character ever shown expecting on TV.

CBS executives deemed the word “pregnant” too vulgar and retitled the episode “Lucy Is Enceinte,” the French translation of the term. Throughout the arc, characters either hinted at the pregnancy or used euphemisms like “expecting” or “having a baby.”

The seven‑episode storyline even prompted CBS to hire a minister, a priest, and a rabbi to monitor each shoot for objectionable material. When Lucy finally gave birth in the episode “Lucy Goes to the Hospital,” 72 percent of American homes with TVs tuned in, cementing the moment in television history.

6 War On Udders

Clarabelle Cow, a supporting character in the Mickey Mouse universe, became the target of 1930s prudish censors because of her exaggerated udders. In 1931, the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) announced a nationwide ban on cartoon udders, deeming the “gargantuan organ” too shocking for audiences.

Animators resisted shrinking or erasing the udders, as the oversized organ was the gag’s comedic heart. Their workaround? Dress the cows in clothing that concealed the udders.

The ban lingered for about a decade. It was mocked when the Hays Office removed a milking scene from the 1940 live‑action film Little Men, and a memo later instructed that udders should be “suggested, not shown.” By the early 1940s, cartoons like “Old MacDonald Duck” featured Donald Duck milking a cow, signaling the ban’s end.

5 Homosexuality Is Bad, Incest Is Still Okay

Sailor Moon captured a global audience in the 1990s, but the American dub introduced a series of controversial changes. Names were Americanized, pop‑culture references were swapped, brief nudity was edited, and violence was toned down.

The most striking alteration involved Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus. In the original Japanese version, the duo were a clearly lesbian couple—Haruka (Uranus) sported a short haircut and masculine clothing, and the pair frequently held hands, exchanged loving gazes, and even shared a kiss.

American censors deemed the relationship inappropriate. Their solution? Rebrand the lovers as “very close” cousins, effectively turning a same‑sex romance into an incestuous one. Additional edits saw male villains like Zoisite and Fish Eye redubbed by female voice actors to suggest they were women.

4 Demonic Erections Are Also Okay

In 2013, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg unleashed the apocalyptic comedy This Is the End. The climax features an anatomically correct Satan whose penis is dramatically sliced off by a heavenly beam and crashes onto a nearby building—all set to Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.”

Rogen and Goldberg never intended that particular scene to survive censorship scrutiny. Their real priority was a sex scene between Jonah Hill and a shadowy demon with a massive erection, which they feared would trigger an NC‑17 rating.To pre‑empt the rating, a Sony executive suggested inserting an even more graphic moment—the giant, disembodied devil penis—hoping it would shock the MPAA into demanding cuts. The strategy worked in reverse: the MPAA handed the film an R rating with no required edits. Goldberg summed it up succinctly: “As long as it’s a demon, you can have an erection.”

3 Nobody Poops

For decades, television censors treated the mere suggestion of a toilet as taboo. In 1960, Tonight Show host Jack Paar briefly quit after a joke using the letters “WC” (water closet) was cut.

The first on‑screen toilet actually appeared in 1957 on the debut episode of Leave It to Beaver. The plot centered on Wally and Beaver buying a baby alligator and storing it in the toilet tank.

CBS Standards and Practices initially balked at showing any bathroom fixture, but the toilet was essential to the story. After an impasse, a compromise allowed a brief glimpse of the upper half of the tank, provided the bowl remained hidden.

2 They Can’t Censor What They Don’t Understand

Dashiell Hammett’s hard‑boiled classic The Maltese Falcon debuted in the pulp magazine Black Mask before being adapted into a 1941 film starring Humphrey Bogart. The Hays Code forced the movie to excise most of the homosexual subtext surrounding characters Joel Cairo and the Fat Man’s gunman, Wilmer.

Hammett managed to slip a term past both book and film censors: “gunsel.” The word originated from thieves’ cant, later adopted into Yiddish slang for a young homosexual. Editors, unfamiliar with the term, assumed it meant “gunman.” Thus, Sam Spade calls Wilmer a “gunsel” three times in both the novel and the film—an accidental nod to the hidden meaning.

1 Fighting Snakes On A Monday-To-Friday Plane

When TV executives needed to sanitize the profanity‑laden 2006 action thriller Snakes on a Plane, they faced a dilemma: cut the iconic line or dub over it. Samuel L. Jackson’s infamous line—“I have had it with these motherf—g snakes on this motherf—g plane”—had to be re‑voiced to match his lip movements.

The result? “I have had it with these monkey‑fighting snakes on this Monday‑to‑Friday plane.” The bizarre substitution became a classic example of censorship gone awry.

Similar mishaps appeared elsewhere: in Die Hard 2, John McClane’s “Yippee‑ki‑yay, motherf—r” turned into “Yippee‑ki‑yay, Mister Falcon,” and in The Big Lebowski a profanity‑laden tirade was replaced with “You see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?”

These absurd dubbings remind us that sometimes the effort to sanitize language creates moments far more memorable than the originals.

From swapped siblings to digital bras, from invisible udders to mis‑translated curses, these ten ridiculous instances of censorship show how the quest to protect audiences can produce some truly unforgettable oddities.

From 1934 through 1968 the Motion Picture Production Code—better known as the Hays Code—dictated what could and could not appear on the silver screen. Studios followed these rules to avoid government interference, but clever filmmakers found ways to tiptoe around the strictest provisions. Below we explore ten classic pictures that managed to slip past the censors, each employing a unique subterfuge while still delivering the thrills audiences craved. These ten films skirted the Hays Code with wit, daring, and a dash of audacity.

How 10 Films Skirted the Hays Code

10 Notorious

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1946 thriller Notorious pushes the boundaries of the Code’s ban on “excessive and lustful kissing.” In the infamous scene, James Stewart’s T.R. Devlin and Ingrid Bergman’s Alicia Huberman engage in a prolonged lip‑lock that lasts roughly two and a half minutes as they glide across a room. To keep the moment within the Code’s limits, the director cleverly inserted brief pauses for the actors to gasp for air, effectively turning what could be read as a single marathon kiss into a series of shorter, successive pecks. By framing the romance as a succession of fleeting kisses rather than one unbroken embrace, Hitchcock could argue that the scene complied with the rule against “scenes of passion” featuring overtly lustful contact.

9 Top Hat

Fred Astaire’s 1935 musical Top Hat sidesteps the Code’s prohibition on the profanity “damn” with a linguistic sleight of hand. During a whimsical cab ride, Astaire’s character Jerry Travers is asked about a racehorse’s dam. He replies, “Oh, I don’t know, Miss, he didn’t give a …” and then trails off, leaving the audience to fill in the missing word. The clever omission lets the dialogue simultaneously reference the horse’s mother (the dam) and hint at the forbidden expletive, allowing the line to slide past the censors unnoticed while still delivering the implied punchline.

8 The Girl Can’t Help It

Jayne Mansfield’s 1956 musical comedy The Girl Can’t Help It flirts with the Code’s strictures on nudity. While the Code outright bans “complete nudity” and even the suggestion of such exposure, Mansfield’s ample cleavage is showcased repeatedly, providing a tantalizing visual without crossing the line into full nudity. Director Frank Tashlin framed the shots to highlight her curves, delivering a level of sensuality that satisfied audience expectations while staying within the Code’s allowance for suggestive, rather than explicit, display.

7 Make Way for Tomorrow

Leo McCarey’s 1937 drama Make Way for Tomorrow navigates the Code’s admonition that adultery must not be “explicitly treated, justified, or presented attractively.” The film hints at a scandalous affair involving Rhoda Cooper by having a household maid overhear a tense phone call, yet the actual conversation between Rhoda’s mother and the caller is never heard. By keeping the details of the tryst off‑screen, the movie respects the Code’s demand that such transgressions remain implied rather than overtly dramatized, allowing the plot to explore adult themes without violating the rule.

6 Strangers on a Train

In Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 thriller Strangers on a Train, the director confronts the Code’s ban on “brutal killings” with a visual trick. When Bruno Anthony strangles Miriam Haines, the murder is shown through the distorted reflection in her eyeglasses, turning the act into a surreal, almost abstract visual rather than a graphic depiction. This clever use of “wide‑angle” distortion satisfies the audience’s appetite for suspense while keeping the gore to a minimum, thereby complying with the Code’s requirement that violent deaths not be presented in explicit detail.

5 Wings

William A. Wellman’s 1927 war epic Wings skirts the Code’s ban on profanity by having its fighter pilots silently mouth profane language during aerial combat. Though no curse words are audibly spoken, the actors’ exaggerated mouth movements convey the salty banter that audiences could easily infer. By keeping the profanity implied rather than spoken, the film managed to retain the gritty realism of wartime dialogue while staying within the Code’s prohibition on “obscenity in word, gesture, reference, song, or suggestion.”

4 Gone with the Wind

David O. Selznick’s 1939 epic Gone with the Wind faced a showdown with the Hays Office over the iconic line “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Anticipating pushback, Selznick filmed two alternate endings—one with the word “damn” and one without—yet never disclosed the alternate version to the censors. After a tense negotiation, Selznick persuaded the board to allow the original line, prompting the Code to amend its stance and treat the word “damn” as “discretionary.” The resulting line remains one of cinema’s most memorable, illustrating how a single word could reshape censorship policy.

3 Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife

Billy Wilder’s 1938 comedy Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife demonstrates how clever wordplay can replace outright profanity. The Code barred even mild curses such as “son of a bitch,” prompting Wilder and co‑writer Charles Brackett to devise a substitute: “If you had a mother, she would bark.” This inventive euphemism conveys the same insult without violating the Code’s ban on vulgar language, showcasing how the constraints of censorship could spark creative dialogue that retained the characters’ sharp edge.

2 Tarzan Films

The jungle adventures starring Johnny Weissmuller from 1928 to 1948 skirted the Code’s nudity rules by keeping Tarzan’s attire limited to a simple loincloth, which the censors deemed acceptable. However, the Code also prohibited the display of animal genitalia, a rule that extended to the series’ famous chimpanzee, Cheeta. To avoid offending the board, Cheeta and his simian companions were fitted with modest body stockings, ensuring that even the animal’s private parts remained concealed. This quirky detail highlights how the Code’s reach extended beyond human actors to the animal kingdom.

1 Every Day’s a Holiday

Mae West’s final starring vehicle, 1938’s Every Day’s a Holiday, epitomizes a career spent outwitting the Hays Code. West famously claimed, “Don’t forget, dear, I invented censorship,” and employed a “bait‑and‑switch” technique: she would write lines she expected the censors to strike, knowing that the remaining dialogue would stay intact. By focusing on strong storytelling and believable characters rather than overt nudity or profanity, West turned the Code’s restrictions into a sharpening stone for her wit, allowing her iconic persona to shine through despite—or perhaps because of—the imposed limits.

When we talk about the 10 countries terrible for journalism, we’re really shining a light on places where the basic right to seek, receive and share news – enshrined in Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights – is trampled underfoot. Across the globe, reporters find themselves tangled in legal thickets, forced into self‑censorship, or even behind bars simply for doing their job.

Why These 10 Countries Terrible for Press Freedom Matter

Each nation on this list showcases a distinct brand of repression, from overt jail terms to invisible digital surveillance. Their stories serve as a stark reminder that a free press is not a given, but a hard‑won privilege that can disappear overnight.

10 Saudi Arabia

Journalism in Saudi Arabia has never been a free‑wheeling profession, but the climate grew dramatically harsher after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took the reins in 2017. Since that year, the tally of journalists behind bars has tripled, as the Crown Prince’s administration tightened its grip on every facet of the media landscape. State‑run outlets are nudged toward self‑censorship, while private outlets endure constant scrutiny from the Ministry of Information.

Going against the regime can manifest in two ways: openly challenging policies and actions, or merely staying neutral and refusing to praise the government – both of which raise red flags. Laws are crafted so that any reporting deemed “dangerous to the regime” can lead to suspension or, more often, imprisonment. The most high‑profile case is the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, allegedly ordered by the Crown Prince. As of 2023, 24 journalists remain detained in Saudi Arabia.

9 Bahrain

Bahrain, a tiny nation of roughly 1.45 million residents, is ruled by a royal family that shows no hesitation in arresting journalists. The government silences dissent by shutting down political parties and human‑rights defenders, ensuring no critical voice survives for long.

Since 2017, after the last independent newspaper was forced to close, the Ministry of Informational Affairs has taken over the entire media apparatus, limiting the country to radio stations and TV channels. While six semi‑governmental dailies still exist, they operate under tight control. The crackdown intensified after the 2011 pro‑democracy protests, turning the press into a mouthpiece for the royal family. As of 2023, ten journalists are detained in Bahrain.

8 Cuba

Cuba ranks among the worst in South America for press freedom, bearing a legacy of revolutions, dictatorships and chronic crises. Though the 21st century saw some loosening of economic policies, the island’s media landscape remains tightly controlled.

Virtually every outlet – newspapers, radio, television – is state‑run. Independent journalists exist in name only, operating under heavy monitoring that dates back to Fidel Castro’s rule in 1959. Even the internet is filtered. The nation now endures its toughest economic crisis in three decades, prompting protests and attempts to flee, yet the flow of information out of Cuba stays severely bottlenecked.

7 Myanmar

On February 1 2021, Myanmar’s elected government was toppled by a military coup, plunging the country into a darker era for press freedom. Prior to the coup, the nation already struggled with limited freedoms, but the junta’s takeover obliterated any remaining progress.

The military regime swiftly banned numerous media outlets, replacing them with state‑controlled propaganda. The State Administration Council now curtails any reporting on the country’s human‑rights abuses, terrorizing both citizens and the global audience. Myanmar currently counts 69 detained journalists, plus one media worker, making it one of the most repressive environments for reporters.

6 Eritrea

Eritrea, a fledgling nation that gained independence in 1993, has rapidly become one of the world’s poorest states and a top offender on the Reporters Without Borders censorship index.

Since September 2001, the authoritarian regime has outlawed independent media, replacing it with state‑run news agencies. Reports suggest 11 journalists have been imprisoned for over twenty years, alongside four other media workers. The government also monitors internet cafés, forces ID checks, blocks social‑media apps and bans any creative output that isn’t sanctioned. Eritrea’s censorship reaches far beyond news, permeating every facet of public expression.

5 Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan, an Asian nation that declared independence from the USSR in 1991, is infamous for its oppressive authoritarian rule and abysmal civil‑rights record.

The government monopolizes television, radio, newspapers and the internet, making any foreign media access via VPN a punishable offense. While only one journalist is officially listed as detained, countless others have either fled or faced far grimmer fates. Independent outlets operate from abroad with limited reach, underscoring the country’s hermetic media environment.

4 Iran

Iran’s theocratic authoritarian regime has long imposed repressive policies that align tightly with a stringent interpretation of Islamic law. The 2022 death of Jina Masha Amini at the hands of the “morality police” sparked massive protests, highlighting the regime’s willingness to violently enforce dress codes and other social norms.

The government maintains tight control over every media outlet, making independent journalism a dangerous pursuit. While official figures list 21 detained journalists as of 2023, many more likely remain unaccounted for due to the wave of arrests following the protests. Iran’s hostile stance toward free reporting continues to stifle dissent.

3 Vietnam

Vietnam holds the dubious title of the world’s third‑largest jailor of journalists. The Communist Party’s monopoly extends to politics, daily life, and the press, leaving independent reporting virtually impossible.

The regime employs a cyber‑unit dubbed Force‑47, composed of about 10,000 “cyber‑soldiers” tasked with hunting down online dissent. While the state does not own every outlet outright, it is the majority shareholder, ensuring that media entities self‑censor to avoid punishment. Topics such as government legitimacy, corruption, LGBT rights, environmental issues and ties to China are all heavily censored. As of 2023, 39 journalists are imprisoned, and the number is expected to climb.

2 China

China’s People’s Republic has long been a heavyweight in global censorship, and under President Xi Jinping the crackdown has intensified. Over 100 journalists are detained as of 2023, making China the world’s largest prison for reporters.

The state runs numerous propaganda‑backed media groups, guided daily by the Propaganda Department. Independent journalists who dare to criticize the Communist Party face surveillance, harassment, detention and even torture. Recent legislative moves aim to outlaw private investment in media companies, further silencing dissent. Although the constitution nominally guarantees freedom of speech, the CCP’s labyrinth of restrictive laws makes it easy to imprison anyone deemed a threat.

1 North Korea

North Korea unsurprisingly tops the list as the most repressive state for journalists. Ruled by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the nation’s media is a single‑mouthpiece operated by the Korean Central News Agency, delivering only the regime’s approved narratives.

The country’s isolation makes external reporting nearly impossible. The state showcases stories it wants the world to see—military parades, nuclear advancements—while suppressing any mention of crises such as the COVID‑19 pandemic, which it falsely reported as having zero cases. Though only one media worker and one journalist are officially imprisoned, the threat of capital punishment and pervasive surveillance deter any attempts at independent reporting.