Censorship of Tom and Jerry

Like several Golden Age cartoons, the original Tom and Jerry shorts in the United States have been edited (and some banned) for scenes of violence, dangerous behavior (including suicide and self-harm), and scenes featuring outdated racial and ethnic stereotypes, among other content considered inappropriate for family viewing.

Cartoon Network and Boomerang (American feed) banned all shorts featuring the character Mammy Two Shoes (an African-American housemaid). Prior to that, the Tom and Jerry shorts featuring Mammy Two Shoes either cut scenes with her in them or redubbed her voice (with Thea Vidale as the new voice of Mammy Two Shoes).

The Tom and Jerry cartoons have also been edited internationally, for content that other countries may find offensive or harmful to children (some of which is similar to what the United States would find offensive and harmful, but most countries do allow the outdated racial and ethnic stereotypes that the U.S. has phased out). The United Kingdom feed of Boomerang, for example, has issued a ban on smoking in media meant for children in 2006. In places like Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, scenes featuring romance and sexual jokes are considered taboo and edited, though, it should be noted that from early 2010 to mid-2014, Cartoon Network's Middle East/North Africa feed allowed romantic references in both the classic cartoons and the original programming. From mid-2014 on, CN Arabic/MENA & Cartoonito (Formely Boomerang) heavily censored their programming (both original and syndicated) to remove butt nudity, violence, romantic dialogue, and any imagery that's excessively distorted or may come off as scary or unsettling to younger and more sensitive viewers. Anything that's not heavily censored is banned outright. To compare, The Amazing World of Gumball, Regular Show, and Adventure Time have had twenty episodes banned from their respective shows for inappropriate content. Tom and Jerry has had two movies and sixty shorts banned for the same reason.

Hanna-Barbera era

§ = Episodes featuring Mammy Two Shoes in some capacity.

Puss Gets The Boot (1940)§

• Current airings on television (both in America and the United Kingdom) have Mammy Two Shoes' voice redubbed. In addition, the redubbed version changes Mammy Two Shoes misspelling "out" as "O-W-T" and "O-U-W-T" into spelling it correctly.

Fraidy Cat (1942)§

• Each of Mammy's appearances were removed on current airings.

Dog Trouble (1942)§

• TNT airings removed the scene of Mammy kicking the Bulldog out of the house.
• Some versions exist where the ending is uncut, but Mammy Two Shoes is recolored white and June Foray voices her with an Irish accent.

Puss n' Toots (1942)§

• The scene where a record disc lands on Tom's head, making him look Chinese, followed by Jerry doing an oriental dance to the music, was removed on current airings. (Ironically enough, became a rather famous Internet Meme.)
• Some local stations edited the beginning to remove all scenes featuring Mammy.

The Lonesome Mouse (1943)§

• This cartoon is one of the many that rarely airs due to the appearance of Mammy Two Shoes, as well as a brief scene of Jerry using a burnt match to paint the shock of black hair and toothbrush/Charlie Chaplin mustache associated with Adolf Hitler on Tom's face on his cat bed. On the rare times this aired, it's always a version where Mammy Two Shoes' voice is redubbed and the scene of Jerry painting Tom's face on the cat bed to look like Hitler's, then spitting on it was cut.

The Yankee Doodle Mouse (1943)

• Cartoon Network used to air this edited to remove the aftermath of the teapot explosion, where Tom appears as the blackfaced center of a sunflower (the blown-up teapot) from 1992 to the early 2000s. Since 2002 (up until the classic cartoons were phased out), the cartoon aired uncut.

The Million Dollar Cat (1944)

• Rarely seen on British television and is exempt from the Complete Collector's Edition for unknown reasons, though it can be speculated that the British censors did not like the violence, tobacco smoking, and dangerous behavior in the cartoon (Jerry abusing Tom over the clause in the will that says that Tom will lose his million-dollar inheritance if he hurts any living thing, including a mouse; Tom stepping out of the moving car and hitting a pole;Tom smoking a cigar while in the luxury car, Tom thinking of a noose, a bomb, a dagger, and a bottle of poison as ways to kill Jerry, Tom tricking Jerry into jumping out the hotel window after setting a fire outside of the hotel room bathroom, and the end with Tom's terrifying scream as he wails on Jerry, then stops and realizes that he's throwing away a million dollars, but continues beating Jerry anyway) and banned it as such content could not be edited from the cartoon without the cartoon being incoherent.

Mouse Trouble (1944)

• Some local stations cut the entire scene of Tom disguising himself as a gift-wrapped box and Jerry jabbing the box with needles and sawing it in half to see what's inside, only to look inside, gulp, and pull out a sign that reads, "Is there a doctor in the house?" Despite this, the next scene showing Tom bandaged up was not cut, nor were there any cuts to Tom shooting himself in the head with the shotgun (which led to him wearing the orange toupee for the rest of the cartoon) or Tom getting hanged after being tricked into drinking milk in the snare trap.

The Mouse Comes To Dinner (1945)§

• Cartoon Network had two versions of this short: one version kept in the beginning where Mammy Two Shoes sets the table while Jerry spies on her, but redubbed Mammy's voice (provided by Lillian Randolph) with Thea Vidale. Newer versions cut the beginning entirely, and start the cartoon on Tom getting out of the potted plant.
• Some TV versions cut the scene of Tom using the flame from his tail (which Jerry put through a candle holder) to light a cigarette, though Jerry lighting Tom's tail on fire in the first place was not cut.

Mouse In Manhattan (1945)

• Jerry getting his head stuck in a bottle of shoe polish was shortened to remove Jerry pulling his head out and being in blackface on the Cartoon Network/Boomerang version in America. The scene accidentally aired uncensored a few times in the 2010s, and was shown uncut back when TNT aired Tom and Jerry shorts in the early 1990s.

Flirty Birdy (1945)

• The eagle tossing Tom into a laundry basket and Tom appearing as a cigar store Indian statue was cut on most American TV versions (Cartoon Network and Boomerang, specifically), which creates the plot hole of how Tom came up with the female bird disguise.

The Milky Waif (1946)

• Current airings and nearly all DVD releases remove the entire scene where Jerry and Nibbles disguise themselves as a black woman and child to escape from Tom. It abruptly goes from Nibbles spitting milk in Tom's face to Tom slamming into a frying pan.
• Some locations outside North America removes Jerry’s massive roar near the end for being too intimidating.

Trap Happy (1946)

• Some local stations remove the scene of Butch accidentally chopping Tom's tail off with an axe.

Part Time Pal (1947)§

• Mammy's voice is redubbed in current airings. Additionally, her line "Well, slap my face if this ain't a mess!" was changed to "Well, I'll be darned! This is such a mess!"
• For unknown reasons, Tom's drunken rendition of "One For The Money" before splashing Mammy with water is cut from current broadcasts as well.

A Mouse In The House (1947)§

• This was one of the many cartoons that seldom, if ever, aired on American TV due to the appearance of Mammy Two Shoes. When the short did air on TV, the scene of Tom and Butch looking in the oven, Jerry dropping a lit match into it, the oven exploding, and Tom and Butch coming out in blackface was cut.

Kitty Foiled (1948)

• On the American feeds of Cartoon Network and Boomerang, the scene of Jerry and the canary posing as Native Americans to escape Tom was cut. MeTV (despite their history of editing outdated racial and ethnic caricatures) did not cut this.
• The version shown on television in the United Kingdom cut the part where the canary threatens Tom with a gun, Jerry drops a lightbulb to make it sound like Tom got shot, and Tom's agonized dying where he sees his grave in the mirror and flips a coin before passing out. The UK edited version goes from Tom getting caught in the bearskin rug to the canary and Jerry shaking hands over tricking Tom into thinking he's been shot. This was never cut on any American channel, despite their history of editing guns and graphic death in cartoons marketed to children and as family entertainment.

The Truce Hurts (1948)

• The scene of the meat truck splashing Tom, Jerry, and Spike in mud and the mud putting them in blackface is cut on Cartoon Network and Boomerang. In the 1960s, the same scene was edited, but it was redrawn/reanimated to get rid of the blackface and make it look like the trio were splashed in mud with only their eyes showing.

Old Rockin' Chair Tom (1948)§

• Mammy's voice is redubbed on most airings, specifically the versions shown on TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang. Her line to Lightning, "Take good care of po' ol' Uncle Tom" was changed to "Take good care of poor ol' Tom," even though Lightning making Tom look like Uncle Tom from Uncle Tom's Cabin by putting cotton on his face and giving him a cane was not censored or altered.

Professor Tom (1948)

• Due to the United Kingdom's 2006 ban on TV show characters smoking, the scene of Tom trying to smoke Jerry out of his mousehole with a cigar and getting sick from repeated inhalation (and Jerry shoving the cigar in Tom's nose when Tom tries to catch Jerry) was cut on the UK version of Boomerang. The US version of Boomerang (and, by proxy, Cartoon Network) leaves the scene uncut, despite often cutting scenes of tobacco smoking in classic cartoons.
  • The Boomerang UK version also cuts the scene of Tom spanking Topsy for letting Jerry go and Jerry breaking Tom's tail in retaliation.

Mouse Cleaning (1948)§

• The scene where Tom comes out of the coal in blackface telling Mammy Two Shoes that he had not seen "...no cat around here" has been cut from most TV versions in America, particularly the version shown on Cartoon Network and Boomerang in America.
  • A 1960s redrawn version of this cartoon exists where the scenes of Tom emerging from the coal and trying to slink away were redone so that way Tom does not look like he's in blackface or act like Stepin Fetchit and does not say anything at all.

• This short has been banned from being released on DVD in the United States by Warner Home Video, such as the third Spotlight Collection. When it was announced that neither this short nor Casanova Cat would be on the then-upcoming Tom and Jerry Golden Collection: Volume 2, the negative reception prompted Warner Home Video to shelve the set indefinitely.
• The version shown in Wales leaves in the blackface ending, but cuts the scene of Jerry bringing a worn-out horse into the house and Tom trying to get him out in his mad dash to keep the house clean.

The Little Orphan (1949)§

• When this short aired on CBS in 1960, Chuck Jones' team reanimated two scenes in this cartoon:
  • Tom throwing a knife and Jerry getting hit in the throat with it was changed to Tom throwing a fork and Jerry getting hit in the throat with it
  • Tom getting burned by a candle from the tail up was edited so that way Tom's headdress was burned, but still intact, rather than turned into pickaninny braids while his mouth was recolored to get rid of the pink lips that make the whole thing look like blackface.
• Most newer versions, particularly the versions shown on Cartoon Network, Boomerang, and MeTV, have the knife part, but cut all scenes of Tom in blackface completely (the edited version goes from the candle landing on Tom's tail and burning through half of his body to Jerry launching the bottle of champagne as a rocket. The edited version also cuts Tom, still in blackface, running and getting hit with the champagne rocket, going from Jerry launching the champagne rocket to Jerry and Nibbles running to the edge of the table and watching as Tom crashes into the china hutch).

Heavenly Puss (1949)

• Banned in Brazil and the Middle East due to frightening and unsettling imagery (Tom's near-death experience in Heaven, where one of the deceased is a sack full of kittens that have been drowned; and Tom ending up in Hell until he finds out that everything that happened was all a bad dream), though the Middle East also banned it because of its Christian depiction of Heaven and Hell.

Jerry's Diary (1949)

• The clip from "The Yankee Doodle Mouse" was cut to remove Tom in blackface from an exploding teapot on Cartoon Network (until 2002, which also applies to "The Yankee Doodle Mouse"). Currently, MeTV and its all-animation spin-off channel, MeTV Toons have this edited.

Tennis Chumps (1949)

The UK version of Boomerang (before the short itself was banned in 2006) cuts two scenes:

• The scene of Butch puffing on a cigar as he waits for Tom to serve the ball
• The scene of Tom serving the bomb painted up like a tennis ball, Butch winding up to hit it, the bomb exploding, and Butch ending up in blackface.
  • It should be noted that, despite Cartoon Network and Boomerang in the United States also editing out scenes of tobacco smoking and characters in blackface after an explosion in other cartoons, those two scenes were left uncut.

Saturday Evening Puss (1950)§

• Versions aired on television in the 1960s reanimated Mammy Two Shoes into an unnamed teenage white girl (and changed her from going to the Lucky Seven Bridge Club to visiting her boyfriend at his house) with June Foray as the voice of the white girl. The same version also muted out Jerry's barely audible dialogue when he complains to Tom about the noise. Cartoon Network's version had Mammy Two Shoes as a black woman instead of a white teenaged girl, but redubbed her voice.

Texas Tom (1950)

• The scene of Tom doing cigarette tricks to impress Tara was cut on the UK feed of Boomerang, as per the UK's rule against showing tobacco smoking in older cartoons.

Safety Second (1950)

• Some versions cut the ending where Jerry ends up in blackface after his noisemaker blows up. Surprisingly, Cartoon Network aired this uncut.

Casanova Cat (1951)§

• Because of the sequence in this cartoon involving Jerry in blackface (after Tom blows cigar smoke on him) and being forced to dance on a hot plate, this short has been banned from being released on DVD in the United States by Warner Home Video. It was released on the Tom and Jerry Classics Collection in Europe uncensored. When it was announced that neither this short nor Mouse Cleaning would be on the then-upcoming Tom and Jerry Golden Collection: Volume 2, the negative reception from fans that wanted the cartoons on there, despite the offensive content, prompted Warner Home Video to shelve the set indefinitely.
• On the rare times this airs on American TV (specifically on Cartoon Network and Boomerang), the scene of Tom blowing cigar smoke in Jerry's face (turning him into a blackface caricature) and forcing him to dance on a heated plate was cut (this, despite Mammy Two Shoes' appearance not being censored).

His Mouse Friday (1951)

• Though the cartoon has been banned from TV and home media release due to frequent scenes showing black cannibals (and Jerry posing as one), it has been shown edited (mostly on video, though it has cropped up on television with parts altered):
  • The MGM/UA Home Video versions mutes out the black cannibal dialogue.
  • In contrast, the Warner Home Video version retains the dialogue, but edits the scene of Jerry being confronted by a pygmy black cannibal, though, rather than cut the scene, the scene was cropped so the pygmy cannibal is no longer in the same scene as Jerry. Despite this, the character can be seen when the cannibals pursue Tom and Jerry.
  • The third Spotlight Collection also edits Jerry encountering the pygmy black cannibal, but leaves in the scenes of the taller cannibals and Jerry posing as one (dialogue and all).
  • The uncut, uncensored version of this short was intended for release on the Tom and Jerry Golden Collection Volume Two in 2013, but is now available for digital download on iTunes.

The Two Mouseketeers (1952)

• Some versions shown in syndication cut the ending to remove Jerry and Nibbles stopping and watching a guillotine blade rise and fall (implying that Tom was in there and was executed). In contrast, this short has been banned from airing in Brazil and Morocco because of the violent ending, and Cartoon Network and Boomerang have aired this uncut.

Little Runaway (1952)

• The baby seal throwing Tom into a bird bath, which overturns the basin and lands on Tom to make him look like a Chinese caricature, is cut on Cartoon Network and MeTV.

The Dog House (1952)

• Like The Yankee Doodle Mouse, Spike having his head in a doghouse which exploded causing Spike to him to have blackface is cut short. However, the scene remains to be shown uncensored a few times.

Two Little Indians (1953)

• Rarely airs on television due to prominent Native American stereotyping.
• The end where Jerry, Nibbles, and Tom smoke from the peace pipe was cut on Boomerang's UK feed starting in 2006.

Life With Tom (1953)

• The clip from "The Little Orphan" was edited to remove Tom's blackface look after the candle burns his fur.

Busy Buddies (1956)

• Was banned from airing on television until early 1998 due to scenes of dangerous behavior (the baby crawling underwater) and Tom, Jerry, and the baby nearly getting shot at by the police. The UK has also banned this for the same reasons. Despite this, the short is available on Laserdisc and DVD.

Blue Cat Blues (1956)

• Due to the cartoon's depressing themes involving heartbreak, alcoholism, and suicide (including the infamous cliffhanger ending where Jerry joins Tom on sitting on the active train tracks after seeing his girlfriend leave him for another mouse), this cartoon does not air much on American television. It did air once on TNT in the 1990s (back before Cartoon Network was created so TBS and TNT can have a place to air the cartoons in the Turner Entertainment library) and made its rounds on local affiliate channels and some international feeds, such as the Southeast Asia feed of Cartoon Network. As of March 2014, there have been rare showings of "Blue Cat Blues" on Cartoon Network and Boomerang in America, the Boomerang streaming app used to air this uncut and uncensored, and it is available on such home media releases as the Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection: Volume 1, Tom and Jerry: The Classic Collection Vol. 4, Disc Two (region 2), Tom and Jerry: No Mice Allowed!, and as an extra on the Blu-Ray version of the movie The Fastest Gun Alive.

Feedin' The Kiddie (1957)

• Like its original counterpart "The Little Orphan", the blackface scene was edited on television airings.

Tot Watchers (1958)

• Withheld from television broadcast until 1992 for its depiction of child neglect and showing a child in dangerous situations.

Gene Deitch era

Down and Outing, High Steaks, and Sorry Safari (1961-1962)

• Rarely aired on modern television (though Cartoon Network has aired these shorts a few times from the 1990s to the 2000s) due to Clint Clobber's excessive abuse against Tom.

Calypso Cat (1962)

• Banned in the Middle East due to the episode being about Tom falling for a female cat, but the female cat is in love with a steel drum player.

Dicky Moe (1962)

• Prior to 2018, this short was rarely scene due to possible sexual references involving the titular whale's name.

Buddies Thicker Than Water (1962)

• The UK version cuts the scene of Tom and Jerry getting drunk on alcohol.

Carmen Get It! (1962)

• Spacetoon (an Arabic cartoon channel) cut the scenes featuring the opera singer playing Carmen, due to her exposed cleavage and large breasts.

Chuck Jones era

Jerry, Jerry, Quite Contrary (1966)

• Banned in the Middle East due to scenes of Jerry committing violent acts to Tom while sleepwalking.

Jerry-Go-Round (1966)

• The first three minutes were cut on the New York local station WKBD in the 1980s for time constraints.

The Mouse From H.U.N.G.E.R. (1967)

• Newer airings have either banned the episode or altered it to slow down the flickering effects of the film projector to avoid any quick cuts and flashes that could induce seizures.

Tom and Jerry: The Movie

• Although there are no results of censorship for this movie, but its infamous teaser trailer remained unavailable outside Europe for its gothic advertising. However, half of the teaser is used for the theatrical trailer, but edited to make it more lighthearted for the North American marketing.

Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry

• In Asia, the scene where Tom flies at New York City and yanks off the dress of the Statue of Liberty was cut due to being sexually inappropriate involving him and Jerry eyeballing her exposed lingerie.
• On CN Arabia, all contestant deaths have been removed.

Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale

• Some scenes are cut in Germany and the United Kingdom for being too violent.

Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes

• On CN Arabia, scenes of the Wolf admiring Red, along with the final scene of their wedding, were deleted. The ending merely shows Butch fainting.

Tom and Jerry Tales

Season 1

"Joy Riding Jokers"

• Tom and Jerry dressed as girls is removed.

"Hi, Robot"

• The kiss scene between Jerry and Dodo at the end of the episode has been removed.

"Spaced Out Cat" / "Spook House Mouse"

• This Episode was skipped in the Arab countries and Middle East.

Season 2

"Kitty Cat Blues" / "Flamenco Fiasco"

• This Episode was skipped in the Arab countries and Middle East.

The Tom and Jerry Show (2014)

Season 1

"Dinner is Swerved"

• The scene is cut as Tom kisses Jerry's lips and kisses a Toodler.

"Turn About"

• When Tom soon approaches Toodles to accept her, the scene is cut.

"Molecular Break Up"

• The episode was banned in Russia.

Season 2

"Big Top Tom"

• The scene is cut where Tom is happy for Jerry because of kissing and hugs.

"Reward If Lost"

• The scene where Tom's Angel appears.

"Out With The Old"

• A group of cats, as an evil and stronger Cat was cut in CN Arabic.

"Unhappily Harried After"

• The episode was skipped in the Arab countries and Middle East.

Season 3

"Frown and Country" / "Catching Some Z's" / "Frenemies" / "Everyone Into the Pool"

• These episodes were skipped in the Arab countries and Middle East.

"Wrap Star"

• In Middle East, Almost every scene were cut in the following:
  • Scenes are cut when an Tom's Shoulder Angel and Tom's Shoulder Devil appear to be absent.

"Whack a Gopher"

• In Middle East, Almost every scene were cut in the following:
  • Jerry, Gopher and her family were cut.
  • The end of the episode was cut due to Jerry and Gopher's hug.

Season 4

"The Devil You Know"

• All scenes featuring Butch's Shoulder Devil and his Angel have been removed, along with the scenes of Tuffy disguised as his angel.

"Flower Power"

• The scene where Tom gives Toots flowers has been removed
• There's also a problem with the dubbing language.

"Tap Cat"

• The scene of Tom and the female cat dancing has been removed.

Season 5

"Piñata Yadda Yadda"

• In a rearing of episode this was censored out.

Tom and Jerry in New York

"Put A Ring On It"

• The scene of Tom, Jerry, and Spike wearing wedding clothes has been removed.

"The Great Donut Robbery"

• The last 38 seconds of this episode are cut in Cartoon Network Asia due to the belief of both wasting money (see below) and stealing from law enforcement. The last quote, however, is seen in the commercial once. ("Hey! Come back here with our doughnuts! I mean, evidence!")

Tom and Jerry Singapore

"Sky's The Limit"

• In the Arab world and Turkey, the scene of Jerry taking off Tom's pants was cut.

"Be Careful What You Fish For"

• In MENA, the screen was cut and enlarged due to the fish spirit.