In a BBC documentary from the early 2000s, then-showrunner of "The Simpsons" Mike Scully said, "I think that the basic rule for any 'Simpsons' writer is first and foremost you have to have a healthy disrespect for everything Americans hold dear." At least during its golden age, the show was at its core a deeply satirical take on modern American life, that, as creator Matt Groening put it in the same documentary "had no sacred cows."
But it wasn't just America at which the writers took aim. "The Simpsons" has upset audiences around the world with its subversive comedy, often managing to get itself banned in several of them. One of the most notable examples of the show taking aim at an entire country was season 6 episode, "Bart vs. Australia," which ticked off the Aussies so much with its stereotypical take on the country that, as writer and former showrunner Mike Reiss told The Age, "We were condemned in the Australian Parliament after the episode." In that instance, however, there was no official banning of the episode, which actually grew in popularity since its original airing and ended up inspiring a petition to officially change the name of Australian currency to "dollarydoo."
"Bart vs. Australia" kicked off a trend of the Simpson family annoying global cultures, but the reaction to this episode seems comparatively tame compared to some other examples where "The Simpsons" was banned outright. There was, for example, the time Germany banned "Cape Feare" due to a scene depicting a man in a Nazi-like uniform. But while that might seem understandable, other countries have just simply thrown a hissy fit over being made fun of. Here are five of the wildest times "The Simpsons" was banned.