When I did my graduate work in religion, we studied Aquinas, Luther, Niebuhr, Barth, but this . . . *this* is religious history. Animation & comics writer Mark Evanier relates a behind the scenes story of how CBS censored a 1982 Christmas special featuring Yogi Bear and other Hanna Barbera characters because one of them dared to acknowledge Chanukkah.
Below is a video of the scene, apparently preserved forever in censored form on the master tape. The original line spoken by Snagglepuss in his trademark style was "Merry Christmas! Seasons Greetings! Happy Chanukah even!" CBS censors were adamant that the word Chanukah was verboten, so out it went. As Evanier, who wrote the scene, concludes, "I thought my people were supposed to run Hollywood but I guess I was wrong."
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