What set Seinfeld apart from the other hit multi-cam sitcoms of the ’90s was its pitch-black sense of humor. Seinfeld was about an ensemble of lovable characters getting into wacky hijinks, just like Friends or Frasier or Mad About You, but it had a much darker, edgier, more twisted comedic sensibility. There’s an episode where George impersonates a white supremacist leader to get a free limo ride. There’s an episode where the gang is being stalked by a violent maniac in clown makeup.
In this day and age, when problematic sitcom episodes are being yanked from streaming services left and right, I’m surprised how many Seinfeld episodes have been left unscathed. We’ve lost episodes of The Simpsons and South Park and 30 Rock and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but next to no Seinfeld episodes have been banned. The suicide episodes, the religious episodes, the episode where Jerry repeatedly drugs a woman to play with her toys, and the episode where Kramer’s bronzer is mistaken for blackface are all still available to stream under Seinfeld’s massive deal with Netflix.
But there are a few Seinfeld episodes that have been pulled from syndication due to insensitivity, and even a couple that were scrapped before production to avoid a potential controversy. Some of them have since been reinstated, but here’s every Seinfeld episode that’s ever been banned (including the ones that were banned before they could ever be).
The Suicide
Season 3, Episode 15
As its title would suggest, “The Suicide” deals with some pretty triggering subject matter. Jerry’s neighbor slips into a coma after attempting to take his own life, and Jerry worries he’ll recover and seek revenge when he starts dating the guy’s girlfriend. It’s a typically callous storyline for Jerry, and while it’s definitely one of Seinfeld’s darkest installments, it also has a lot of laughs. The episode has a couple of jokes and remarks that are dismissive toward people struggling with suicidal ideation, but it’s no harsher on this subject than any other.
“The Suicide” hasn’t been pulled from syndication entirely, but it is occasionally omitted from the rerun lineup if local channels or cable networks get antsy about the titular topic. It’s not because of anything specific in the episode; it’s just because the topic itself is extremely sensitive, and some small-town affiliates are worried about offending viewers and inviting complaints. While it can’t always be found airing in standard TV syndication, an uncut version of “The Suicide” is available to stream on Netflix, or to buy on Apple TV.
The Bet
Scrapped Before Production
The first Seinfeld episode to be fully, truly banned was scrapped before the cameras even started rolling. During Seinfeld’s second season, Larry Charles wrote a pretty edgy, topical, controversial script called “The Bet.” The story involved Elaine buying a gun from one of Kramer’s underground criminal associates. Both Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards were uncomfortable with the material and objected to the episode. Louis-Dreyfus cited a joke about dead U.S. presidents as the reason she refused to take part in it.
Both the network and director Tom Cherones sided with the cast, and the episode was scrapped before it even made it to air. Years later, looking back on the experience, Charles speculated that it might have been “too much too soon” to deal with such heavy subject matter in what would’ve been the ninth ever episode of Seinfeld. Seinfeld’s spiritual successor, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, would do an episode about the gun issue (“Gun Fever”) in just its fifth episode — and then, eight seasons later, they did a sequel.
The Stranded
Season 3, Episode 10
This one is an example of self-censorship: Larry David himself stopped this one from hitting the airwaves. Although it eventually aired in season 3, “The Stranded” was originally produced for season 2. But when it was in the can and ready to be aired, David got cold feet. He didn’t think the episode was good enough, and he had it removed from broadcast and shelved indefinitely.
This is the episode where Jerry, Elaine, and George all go to a party at Michael Chiklis’ house on Long Island. When George leaves with a woman, Jerry and Elaine are stranded there, waiting for a hopelessly lost Kramer to find them and take them home. It’s not an offensive episode at all — although it does make light of the death of nine-week-old Azaria Chamberlain in one of Elaine’s all-time funniest moments — but David just wasn’t satisfied with it, so he pulled it from season 2 and left it to gather dust.
Then, in the middle of season 3, David pulled “The Stranded” off the shelf and reluctantly allowed it to air. It was advertised as a “lost” episode, and aired with a special introduction from Jerry to explain the continuity error of George still being a real estate agent (despite losing that job in season 2’s “The Revenge”). “The Stranded” was released alongside seasons 1 and 2 on home media, even though it aired in season 3.
Untitled Episode About “The Dietary Habits Of African-Americans”
Nixed By The Network For Racial Insensitivity
Like “The Bet,” this is another episode that got scrapped before it could even begin filming. But unlike “The Bet,” we don’t know much about this one — it doesn’t even have a title. According to the book Seinfeld Reference: The Complete Encyclopedia, there was a George-centric episode in development that the network nixed before production.
The executives were concerned that the episode’s jokes about “the dietary habits of African-Americans” were racially insensitive. That’s all we know about this episode that never was, but this was the ’90s, when racial insensitivity was rife in the media, so if the media decided to scrap this one for insensitivity, it was probably pretty damn insensitive.
The Puerto Rican Day
Season 9, Episode 20
The only time a Seinfeld episode was ever produced, aired, met with widespread backlash, and pulled from rotation entirely was the penultimate episode, “The Puerto Rican Day.” This was the last regular weekly episode of Seinfeld before a retrospective clip show and a super-sized series finale, and since the finale was written by David, this was a last hoorah for the show’s golden-age writing staff (just about everyone in that writers’ room is credited on this episode).
But that last hoorah was quickly overshadowed by controversy. The episode sees the gang stuck in traffic on their way back from a baseball game, as they bump into the crowds gathered for New York’s annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. During the parade, Kramer accidentally sets a Puerto Rican flag on fire, and starts jumping on it to put it out. But to the proud Puerto Ricans celebrating around him, it looks like a boorish American is burning and stomping on the symbol of their country.
This gag proved to be so controversial that NBC apologized and banned the episode from airing on their network ever again. Initially, when Seinfeld was syndicated, “The Puerto Rican Day” didn’t come as part of the rerun package. It wasn’t until the summer of 2002 that the episode started airing with the flag-burning scene intact. It’s currently streaming on Netflix along with the rest of the series.
This is an example of people misunderstanding a joke and creating a needless controversy over it. Yes, Seinfeld contains the image of Kramer burning the Puerto Rican flag, but in context, it’s just a hilarious mixup. The episode makes it clear that this is a disrespectful act, and the butt of the joke is Kramer.
