7 times Mickey Mouse was banned around the world

Who would ever not want Mickey Mouse or his pals around? Could there be anyone who would want to ban or censor this fun-loving mouse?

After all, he is fun-loving and calls everyone pal. 

But Mickey has come up against groups of people who did not want him around.

Here’s a look:

1. The first place Mickey Mouse was banned was Ohio. In 1930, Ohio banned a  Mickey Mouse cartoon called “The Shindig” not for one, but for two reasons. The first was because Clarabelle Cow udders were visible. Well. she was technically naked since she put on a dress when her date knocked on the door to pick her up.

And, if that wasn’t ridiculous enough, Time Magazine wrote the other reason was the book Clarabelle was reading the popular book”Three Weeks,” by romance novelist Elinor Glyn, who coined the word “it” to mean “sex appeal.” This was considered racy and suggestive by 1920s Middle-American standards.

2. In 1930, Germany took a swipe at Mickey’s 1929 film “The Barnyard Battle,” which featured Mickey fighting cats who were wearing German-style helmets. It was viewed as a negative portrayal of Germany.

3. After Adolph Hitler came to power Germany went on the attack against Disney.  In the late 1930s a German newspaper article contained this: “Mickey Mouse is the most miserable ideal ever revealed…Healthy emotions tell every independent young man and every honorable youth that the dirty and filth-covered vermin, the greatest bacteria carrier in the animal kingdom, cannot be the ideal type of animal…Away with Jewish brutalization of the people! Down with Mickey Mouse! Wear the Swastika Cross!”

4. Romania banned Mickey Mouse films in 1935 fearing children would be scared to see a giant mouse on a movie screen.

5. Italy, in 1938, banned all foreign children’s literature, except Mickey Mouse and Disney characters, mostly because Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s children were reportedly fond of Mickey. However, in 1942, after Italy declared war on the U.S. the government forced Italian publishers to stop printing any Disney stories. After the downfall of Italy’s fascist government in 1945, the ban was removed.

6. East Germany banned Mickey Mouse comics in 1954 saying Mickey was an “anti-Red rebel.”

7.  In 2014, Iran’s Organization for Supporting Manufacturers and Consumers banned school supplies and stationery products featuring “demoralizing images,” including those of Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse.