For every wholesome lesson about sharing and togetherness, there's at least one deeply disturbing reference they've managed to slip past the censors. And some times, it's not exactly subtle.

Whether they realize it or not, parents leave their children in the care of cartoon writers for several hours every week--which is about as wise as telling your kids that a candy-dealing leprechaun lives at the bottom of the swimming pool.

6 Animaniacs - Fingering Prince

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The whole secret to the success of a cartoon like Animaniacs is to appeal both to the kiddies who like animated slapstick, and to the college kids who like the quick inside jokes clearly intended to sail over the toddlers' heads. Then, sometimes, they'll throw in a reference to fingering a man's anus.

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For example, we have the episode "Hercule Yakko"--an oblique reference to Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot that no child would get--where the Warner siblings act as detectives on board a cruise ship as they look for a stolen diamond. Right off the bat Yakko is making a Charlie Chan joke, a reference to a racist detective serial from the first half of the 20th century that we're guessing not even the college kids caught.

But then Yakko tells Dot to "dust for prints." She returns with pop musician and noted enemy of the Internet, Prince, who for some reason is hanging around on a children's cartoon luxury liner.

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Yakko tells her, "No, finger prints." Dot and Prince share an awkward glance, before she says, "I don't think so" and tosses Prince through a port window, where he presumably drowns. That's right: The whole joke is she misheard the instructions as "finger Prince."

We believe this is the first time in the history of children's entertainment that they've broached the subject of a cartoon character going knuckle diving in a pop star's asshole. If some other show blazed this trail first, be sure to let us know in the comments.