Nunchucks and ninja stars in the 70s/80s. They were a fad among us kids who wanted to be like Bruce Lee or Lee Van Cleef. Many municipalities banned these in some sort of gang-delinquency-sleeper-assassins panic when kids started playing with them. They were far more dangerous to the user and far less lethal than a baseball bat or pointy stick.
Ooh, that brings mind an example. A really infuriating one. But fictional, so not at all of the import of how real world people are treated. I’m going to combine this one with the comic-book panic. My example is the Batman-Robin relationship and people who hate (or these days, love) the so-called implication of a homosexual relationship there because of Dick’s barelegged costume. I’m like “he’s a CHILD.” Batman is guardian (later adoptive father, later made just guardian again with latest reboot, I think). Even if something happened once he was grown, it would still be incredibly disturbing because he raised this child, and there’s no way you could get away from the idea that a degree of grooming was involved.
But even if, back in the 60s when Dick was still a minor and they were getting worked up over this, it actually was the implication, why the hell weren’t people way more concerned about the sexual abuse of minor (albeit a teen one) by his guardian than the idea of a homosexual relationship. Why did they perceive it that way? I just can’t get into the mindset.
I remember reading or seeing something similar about the Thundercats when they came out. They were all half human - half beast, which is satanic, they have a third eye for sight, which is satanic, Mum-Ra was satanic because he was an evil mummy who used magic.
Can I hit him with this throwing star? Shuriken!
I’m also glad you brought up Lee Van Cleef. I thought I was the only person who remembered The Master.
And switchblades, who were stereotyped as used by certain ethnic groups, though more recently they’re taking away the bans. Ninja/samurai hysteria also got kids watching the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in the UK and there and in other countries could only be a sword-wielding warrior if it’s a white guy.
“Marihuana” while we’re at it.
Dick? Who?
How about the long-running debate over Bert and Ernie being a gay couple? C’mon, they’re just roommates.
Don’t forget the very very small group who had a problem with The Cookie Monster because he promoted unhealthy eating.
Dick Grayson, our first Robin. We’ve been through 5 now. Not counting alternate futures or the entire We Are Robin group. Even if some people want to forget one of them. I’ve heard they tried calling him “Richard” a little later, but that it didn’t stick. Don’t know is so (I know they had Alfred switch to it), but he’s Dick to me. IMO, even those who might be prone to snicker would be over it in an issue or two, but maybe that’s just me.
Ah yes, I recall hearing about Bert and Ernie. I believe the response was they’re puppets, and have no sexuality?
How about Teletubbies and Tinky Winky? I think I heard something about Spongebob, too? Don’t know if it was smaller than Tinky Winky or I just wasn’t socializing as much at the time (I heard mostly people saying the talk was stupid on Tinky Winky).
On the other hand, I heard, but do not know if true, that a Wonder Woman writer actually had Wonder Woman start using the catchphrase “Suffering Sappho” just to irk the people who complained about the comic.
No way is Spongebob gay! You know he and Sandy Cheeks totally have the hots for each other, but she has to wear that danged scuba suit when he’s around. Squidward, OTOH? If there is such a thing as cartoon gaydar, yep, he pings mine, but he’s involuntarily celibate.
Lets go with some retro-moral-panic … the horrors of the novel.
Tell me about it!!
I smashed my thumb with my nunchucks. Another kids are I were playing tough guys with them.
It wasn’t a panic in Utah when I was growing up, but banning them may have saved my thumb.
The Smurfs were also satanic back in the 80s. I remember arguments centering on Gargamel being a wizard and having a cat named after a demon. This doesn’t touch on that in particular, but it is a sight to see.
Furthermore, what’s a little witchcraft when the Smurfs themselves are obviously dangerous communist revolutionaries. Just check out those Phrygian caps!
I remember hearing that and people saying Gargamel was a caricature of some aspects the Jewish culture…
heck here’s a recent one … the violence in video games … that ones still being debated…
I think Congress did the same thing in the 80’s during the Farm Crisis. Hollywood made a few movies about the crisis facing family farms, and congress invited the actors from the movies to speak during the hearings. I watched these and noted at the time they didn’t talk to any actual farmers.
actually, the first few years of wonder woman had several lesbian and B&D references … the original creator had an interesting personal life …
I did know about his personal life. It’s been a while, and I’ve only read scattered early stories of WW.
For moral panics, of course, the satanism scare of the '80s has been mentioned. I recently recollected how He-Man and Masters of the Universe was pulling children away from Jesus (only saw a short excerpt of this video in the 2000s).
My parents weren’t into this, so I never became even familiar with the concept of these types of things until the '90s, when I was in high school. A teacher who said D&D was satanic when a kid was playing Magic: The Gathering. I did hear a little about Power Rangers and violence, but no one I knew believed it. Did have one weird teacher (only lasted a year) who thought Disney was trying to brainwash kids to Buddhism (Lion King) and against Christianity in other ways.
So one thing that’s difficult for me is separating out the things that only a small percentage of (vocal) people believed vs. those that were widespread. Like, I guess the comic thing was widespread, since the Comics Code Authority was created. But comic books (and video games and Harry Potter and He-Man toys and Power Rangers) still sold huge amounts, so it’s not like the majority has issue with these things for their children, right?
The scary ones are the real world manifestations that led to arrests of daycare workers and such.
To say nothing of the fear of “catching the gay” should you let a homosexual so much as look at you. A lot of 90s comedy is rife with that shit - *Friends *aged pretty badly in that regards for example. Which obviously speaks a lot more about straight insecurities than the nefarious plots of Teh Ghey. Of which I’m sure they do exist, however. I’ve watched the Teletubbies, I know what’s up ! 
From what I hear video did kill the radio star though. No matter how gaga some people were about radio googoo.
I’d say that the current obsession with rape on college campuses counts as a moral panic. It’s got all the signs: fake stories, innocent people railroaded, phony statistics, and bad laws.