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Cartoon Page 15

Cartoon Network has, during its history, broadcast most of the Warner Bros. animated shorts originally created between the 1930 and the 1960, but the censorship practices of the Network and its corporate parent resulted in editing out scenes depicting discharge of gunfire, alcohol ingestion, cowboys and Indians gags, and politically incorrect humor. The unedited versions were kept from both broadcasting and wide release on the video market. Coal Black and DE Sabin Dwarfs 1943, a politically incorrect but critically well-regarded short, was notably omitted entirely, while The Scarlet Pumpernickel 1950 and Feed the Kitty 1952, both well-regarded, had their finales heavily edited due to violence.

There was controversy in 2001 over a network decision concerning further omissions from broadcasting. The Cartoon Network scheduled a 49-hour-long marathon promising to broadcast every Bugs Bunny animated short in chronological order. The network originally intended to include 12 shorts that had become controversial for using ethnic stereotypes, albeit broadcasting them past midnight to ensure no children were watching, with introductions concerning their historic value as representatives of another time. The network's corporate parent, however, considered it likely that there would be complaints concerning racial insensitivity. 

This led to all 12 being omitted in their entirety. Laurie Goldberg, vice-president of public relations, defended the decision, stating, We're the leader in animation, but we're also one of the top-rated general entertainment networks. There are certain responsibilities that come with that Following complaints by its adult fan base, the Network offered a compromise solution: the 12 omitted animated shorts would be included in upcoming documentaries. The first such documentary was a special on "The Wartime Cartoons". It notably included Herr Meets Hare 1945 in its entirety, but only certain clips of Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips 1943. Kevin Handler considered it a positive sign of the Network being willing to "confront and unveil" some of the dishonorable aspects of animated history, but noted that so far only the Warner Bros. shorts got this serious treatment, not the MGM animated shorts also broadcast by the network.

When Cartoon Network began rerunning the original Rooney Tunes again in March 2011 given their own time slot this time in place of marathons during New Year's Day, most censored scenes in some cartoons along with original title cards have been reinstated, such as gunfire and alcohol, though the network still edits out racially insensitive scenes. 

Two of the network's shows, Adventure Time, and Regular Show, have shown scenes of violence, mild profanity, and sexual references Adventure Time shows more of the sexual references, which is why both cartoons are rated TV-PG. Sometimes, the network may remove the scenes once more after the first broadcast, or will leave them unedited. Examples of cartoons that have had their censored scenes and title cards reinstated include Scared Cat and two cartoons that have shown gunfire. Many licensed anime programs broadcast on its action-themed block Tami had to be edited for content in order to receive a TV-Y7 rating. Mostly since many of these series had objectionable content that could considered offensive or inappropriate to its younger viewers. Despite that Tami managed to get these series on the air through editing out heavy amounts of violence,