Uncle Grandpa is Problematic

oooookay, here we go. I’ve been planning on making this post for a while now, and I just now got around to it. the Say Uncle crossover has brought a LOT of controversy about Uncle Grandpa and for a good reason. Ever since watching the show I’ve noticed it’s racist, sexist, transphobic (and a bit fatphobic). these things are honestly really obvious after looking into it, and any excuses i’ve seen for them so far (i will be listing and disproving them through out this rant) are pretty pisspoor excuses.

let’s start with the transmisogyny

it’s really fucking obvious here that this is transmisogynistic. one of the main excuses i’ve heard is “but uncle grandpa is canonly nonbinary!!!1!!1!!!” it is 100% obvious that the makers of this show took masculine looking characters and dressed them femininely purely for comedic effect and to make a joke out of it (this is NOT representation). that is the literal definition of transmisogyny, and if you think it’s right to defend this then, sorry to break it to you, but you’re a little transphobic.

i’ve also heard people saying “okay but all cartoons like bugs bunny and spongebob crossdress too! cartoons have always done that!!!!” okay, and? does that suddenly make it okay for UG to do it? no one ever said it WAS okay for those cartoons to do it, and they’re wrong for it just as much as UG is. And not to mention the fact that those cartoons were made 15+ years ago. we have grown since then. this is a newer cartoon, made for a new generation of kids. we are teaching kids that trans people are a joke all over again. these “little jokes” are not okay. moving on.

Racism in Uncle Grandpa

ah yes, casual racism. after meeting with a kid from japan, he greets UG with perfect english. then uncle grandpa yells in his face that he doesn’t speak japanese. this is the cheapest of humor right here. it’s like the makers of the show decided to dance as close to the edge of racism as possible without getting in trouble from CN. this takes common stereotypes that most foreign POC have to deal with (often from ignorant english speakers), and turns it into a joke for kids. because casual racism is funny right? i see no lesson in this scene besides a cheap racist joke. no, this is not a “moral lesson about the wrong in racist stereotypes” here, don’t act like it teaches kids “what not to do”. the racist mistake by UG was never corrected; how are kids suppose to know what Uncle Grandpa did is wrong?

regarding Mr. Gus’s character, i thought this was worth mentioning too after reading this.

Sexism on Uncle Grandpa

one of the biggest issues i’ve seen is the Aunt Grandma episode, featuring what looks like a female version of Uncle Grandpa. here’s her design

if it isn’t obvious, her character is extremely sexualized. now, before i get started, let’s go ahead and throw out the excuses i’ve heard for this so far. “oh, so just because she has big boobs, you think she’s sexualized?! you’re sexist!!!” (yes someone has literally said this to me before) yes, she is sexualized, and not just because she has boobs. from the extremely tiny waist, to the big hips, to the small fitting dress that stops just under her ass, to the thigh high socks, she is sexualized. a good example of a character with big breasts and a considerably beautiful design that isn’t sexualized would be Rose Quartz. moving on to the next excuse.

“but she isn’t an ACTUAL genderbend on Uncle Grandpa, she use to be her own person named Priscilla Jones! she technically isn’t a sexualized version of uncle grandpa!!!!!!” priscilla’s entire back story honestly just seems like a shitty excuse to make a sexy female version of UG and get away with it. when it comes down to it, kids are just going to see a male and female version of the same character, with the female version being extremely sexualized as always. this concept has been seen in a lot of other cartoons as well, including johnny test.



johnny is suppose to be a kid. when was the last time you saw a child that looked like this? little girls are going to see this and think it’s okay to be sexualized, even at a young age. the previous generation was taught it growing up with cartoons like these, but why are we continuing to pump newer cartoons with the same problematic humor as we did years ago? we’re just teaching a new generation of kids to be as hateful and bigoted as we were by putting this “seemingly harmless” shit into their cartoons.

i’m not saying you’re a bad person if you enjoy uncle grandpa. i’m not saying to never watch a show you personally enjoy watching. but admit when something you like is problematic; don’t deny its flaws and don’t be rude to the people that point them out. accept people’s criticism when they have a right to be upset.