Sesame Street – I Want a Monster to Be My Friend

This bit was allegedly removed from the Sesame Street line-up in the 1980s, after a mother complained that the lyric

If I make friends with a friendly monster,
I’ll let him bounce me on his knee.
I’ll let him do whatever he wants ta,
Especially if he’s bigger than me.

Would make kids more vulnerable to child abuse.

Well, OK, I guess. Except, as anyone who watches Sesame Street knows, they have a huge repertoire of clips they rotate through, and the odds of seeing a particular Muppet bit more than once every few months is pretty low. The possible brainwashing being done by this clip, or any other, is pretty minimal, since brainwashing requires more than one listen by a half-distracted kid scattering Legos all over the carpet as a late night trap for their parents.

Then again, in the 1980s, the TV networks removed Daffy Duck getting his bill blown off by Elmer Fudd in the “Rabbit Season!”/”Duck Season!” bit, despite no kids actually reenacting it with a shotgun in all the decades prior to that, nor have Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner caused any anvil-related deaths.

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