The controversial “Hey, Arnold!” » Episode that sparked a viral misunderstanding, so NSFW, even the creator responded

Thanksgiving is a time when families come together, share memories and create new ones. A holiday filled with warmth, abundant parties, parades and football. For generations, television has sought to convey this spirit to viewers at home through special programs. Thanksgiving-themed episodeslike the emblematic WKRP in Cincinnati episode “Turkeys outside“They’ve delivered time and time again, with beloved friends and families on our favorite TV shows, sharing affection, gratitude, and the questionable sexual acts of the day. Yes, you read that right. Let’s just say that in the Thanksgiving-themed episode Hey, Arnold!the third seasonturkey wasn’t the only thing eaten – at least that’s what it looked like.

“Hey, Arnold!” » Unlike other children’s sitcoms

As noted on Collider, Hey, Arnold! is a rarity among children’s shows, a series that does not denigrate children or treat them as inferior to adults. It’s by design, with the creator Craig Bartlett recognize children’s underestimated capacity for perception and common sense. As a result, where many children’s shows equate energy and exaggeration with humor, Hey, Arnold! isn’t afraid to go bigger and bolder, aiming for more sophisticated humor alongside these zany moments.

It is also one of the few series of its kind that takes place outside the suburbs, taking place in the city and the realities that come with it: taking public transportation, walking around the city center and other aspects of the urban environment that children of the communities televise, like Timmy Turner in The godfathers are quite strangejust don’t do it. One of these aspects is socio-economic diversity, which is something Hey, Arnold! kiss. In Arnold’s elementary school, there are students from a wide range of economic backgrounds, with students from wealthy Rhonda (Olivia Hack) to Puant (Christopher Walberg), from a low-income family, learning in the same class. Even outside of school, Arnold and his friends encounter immigrants and unhoused people. These situations and realities are things that other children’s programs (which are largely more homogenized) only address occasionally, if at all.

“Hey, Arnold!” » Often deals with adult themes, but one episode had a huge misunderstanding

It is therefore not surprising that Hey, Arnold! I did not hesitate to more mature themes plus growing up and other pre-teen topics. Addiction is addressed in “Chocolate Boy”, where Chocolate Boy’s (Jordan Warkol) chocolate addiction causes him to hit rock bottom and have to deal with his chocolate addiction. “Curly Snaps” and “Helga on the Couch” deal with mental health, and self-esteem is the theme behind “Weighing Harold.” One of the themes that looms over the entire series is that of parental absenteeism.either physically (Arnold’s parents disappeared when he was a baby, so he lives with his grandparents) or emotionally (Helga’s parents favor his older sister Olga (Nika Futterman) and make no effort to hide it).

But there are “adult themes”, and then there is, uh, adult themes. Or at least very adult momentsas seen in a blink and you’ll miss it one in Season 3’s “Arnold’s Thanksgiving”. In the episode, Arnold and Helga leave Mr. Simmons’ apartment (Dan Butler), after an argument broke out between members of his family. The two walk away talking, with a window overlooking Mr. Simmons’ apartment in the background. Just a harmless transitional moment that moves the two from one part of the story to the next.

But in May 2016, a vineyard started go aroundthe one that showed the argument at the table had apparently ended (literally). A NSFW ending, too. As seen in the clip, it appears that Uncle Chuck is vigorously gnawing on something: a woman’s butt. Yeah, Old Chuck is, according to one X user, an “ass mover”, and the recipient seems more than okay with that. It’s rather disturbing, although very funny, but it can’t be what it looks like, can it? According to creator Craig Bartlett, this is not the caseand although he had seen the episode “a hundred times”, he never noticed the strange scene that was playing out behind the two characters.

He does, however, have a much more acceptable explanation for what is happening. (by AV Club). “The kids leave Mr. Simmons’ apartment,” he explains, “where his family is arguing at the dinner table. It’s Uncle Chuck eating a turkey with his hands.” He then emphasizes that he “never intended [the scene] be what the guy tweeted.” Closer inspection reveals that, yes, that’s exactly what Bartlett claims. It’s a much more appropriate (but decidedly much less amusing) clarification, thus ending the controversy. Yes, leaving it in the rearview mirror. No butts about it, so don’t be disappointed. You should be glad we got to the bottom of this.

Release date

1996 – 00/00/2004

Directors

Tuck Tucker, Steve Socki, Larry Leichliter, Jamie Mitchell

Writers

Craig Bartlett, Steve Viksten, Joe Ansolabehere

Franchise(s)

Hi Arnold!