Censored Eleven

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The Censored Eleven is a defined group of 11 vintage animated short films from Warner Bros.' classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies franchises, formally restricted from widespread public broadcast and syndication starting in 1968 due to pervasive, harmful ethnic and racial stereotyping that does not align with modern social content standards.

Key moments

1930s to mid-1940sAll 11 short films are originally produced and theatrically released by Warner Bros. as part of its regular animated output
1968Rights holder United Artists officially withdraws the 11 titles from all television syndication circuits, formalizing their restricted distribution status
Late 20th to early 21st centuryThe set receives no mainstream official home media release, with only rare, limited public screenings at specialty animation events and museum exhibitions

Cultural shift represented by the restriction

The classification of these 11 cartoons as restricted marks a broader turning point in U.S. media norms, as entertainment owners moved away from normalizing offensive, one-note racial caricatures of Black, Asian, Indigenous and other minority groups that were widely accepted for comedic effect in mid-20th century pop culture.

Role as animation history case study

The Censored Eleven have become a widely referenced subject for media scholars and vintage animation enthusiasts, who analyze the shorts to trace how social attitudes around representation in entertainment have evolved over decades, rather than engaging with them as standalone comedic works.

Precedent for modern media content curation

This set has become a longstanding reference point for major studios re-releasing classic animation catalogs in the streaming era. Many modern platforms now opt to add explicit contextual disclaimers for older titles with dated stereotypes instead of full withdrawal, balancing historical preservation with respect for contemporary anti-discrimination standards.

The Censored Eleven is a group of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons originally produced and released by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1944. All of them have been withheld from syndication in the United States by United Artists (UA) since 1968. UA owned the distribution rights to the Associated Artists Productions library at that time, and decided to pull these 11 cartoons from broadcast because the use of ethnic stereotypes in the cartoons, specifically African and African-American stereotypes, was deemed too offensive for contemporary audiences.

The ban has been continued by UA and the successive owners of the pre-August 1948 Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies. Since 1968, these shorts have not been officially broadcast on television and have only been exhibited theatrically by Warner Bros. once (in 2010, see below for more details) since their withdrawal. They have turned up, however, on low-cost VHS and DVD collections.

Background

The cartoon output of Warner Bros. Pictures during its most active period sometimes had censorship problems more complex in some respects than those of features.

Censored Eleven

WorldBrand briefing

Cultural shift represented by the restriction

Role as animation history case study

Precedent for modern media content curation

Background

Censored Eleven list

Public awareness in the 21st century

Proposed official release

See also

External links

References