The top 10 most controversial TV characters of all time
We can all agree Caillou sucks.
TV is generally pretty good at telling us what to feel about who. We love the heroes, we hate the villains, and we tolerate the side characters. But sometimes, a character comes along that shakes a fandom to its core. Battle lines are drawn. Insults are hurled. The paragraphs on Reddit pile high. Here are some of the most controversial TV characters of all time.
Uncle Iroh (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
Yes, Uncle Iron. “How is this possible?” I’m sure you’re asking. “Who could hate a man whose sole purpose is to pour out tea and life advice for all who need it?” While Iroh’s actions throughout Avatar: The Last Airbender are largely without flaw, it’s the actions he took before the events of the show that draw fire, no pun intended. Once known as the Dragon of the West, Iroh was a general in the Fire Nation Army, the same regime that was responsible for the genocide of the Air Nomads and the benders of the Southern Water Tribe. Iron himself personally oversaw the siege of Earth Kingdom city Ba Se Sing. People died, but it took the death of his son before his heart truly changed.
Princess Bubblegum (Adventure Time)
Adventure Time‘s Princess Bubblegum might look sweet on the surface but within her beats the hard-as-rock candy heart of a tyrant. The Candy Kingdom is no democracy, it is a semi-benevolent dictatorship, and Bubblegum rules with an iron fist. She created the Kingdom with dubiously ethical science experiments, playing God by bringing life to inanimate candy. She also totally plays with poor Finn the Human’s heart. She acts like she’ll finally return his unrequited love if he does enough of her dirty work, but really, it’s just emotional manipulation. We love her still, but her methods are machiavellian at best.
Eric Cartman (South Park)
South Park’s Eric Cartman is perhaps the most controversial TV character ever conceived. He’s a bastard, through and through. Cartman is racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, homophobic—basically, he’s every kind of “phobe” and “ist” you can be. The difficulty of his character? He’s meant to be comic relief. South Park has courted controversy since it first premiered and has lampooned social issues that other shows wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. But are viewers laughing at Cartman’s vile rhetoric ironically? Or do some of the show’s fans actually think calling something you don’t like “gay” is funny on its face? Tough call, and Cartman himself doesn’t care one way or the other.
Rick Sanchez (Rick and Morty)
Rick and Morty’s Rick Sanchez is often celebrated for the wrong reasons. Like American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman and Peaky Blinders’ Tommy Shelby, Rick Sanchez has managed to court accolades that appreciate him for his most villainous qualities. His arrogance and unsympathetic attitude are often seen in some corners of the internet as qualities to aspire to, no matter how much suffering those qualities heap upon Rick’s loved ones and his own sad heart.
Don Draper (Mad Men)
Mad Men‘s Don Draper can be viewed as the epitome of masculinity—or misogyny—depending on how you look at him. He’s a traditional heterosexual male ideal: handsome, strong-willed, career-driven, and seductive. He’s everything that the America of the 1960s (and the America of today) tells young men they should aspire to be. But when you look at the emotional ruin that his decisions create for his friends, loved ones, and himself, it’s easy to see that Don is not a person that anyone should hope to become.
Ted Mosby (How I Met Your Mother)
Never has a sitcom character inspired such raw vitriol as Ted Mosby. To be fair, Mosby is a rat bastard. While framed by How I Met Your Mother as a romantic hero, his actions show that he is, in fact, the overarching antagonist of the show. He made his kids sit through a nine-year-long story of “how he met their mother,” who, as it turns out (spoiler alert) he’s content to replace with the wife of his best friend. And don’t even get me STARTED on his treatment of Barney. Sure, Barney’s a womanizing asshole, but at least he’s honest about it. Ted meanwhile endlessly digs at Barney’s shallow relationships while simultaneously working his way through a revolving door of women to love and leave in his endless, obsessive, creepy pursuit of “The One.”
Brock (Pokémon)
Yep, Brock from Pokémon has gotten his fair share of flack over the years. Like Ted Mosby and Don Draper, he’s a pretty insufferable womanizer. He spends the entire series sniffing after anything with a pulse. Sure, Ash Ketchum is no better, with his endless pursuit of animal kidnapping and glorified dogfights, but at least Ash is good at what he does. Brock spends the entire series hitting on girls and getting rejected. He never learns. He never grows. He NEVER asks a question. He stays a luckless, loveless fool. And the worst part? There are good things about him! He’s a talented cook. A passionate gym leader. He would be so lovable if he just stopped trying so hard.
Caillou (Caillou)
Who knew a four-year-old could have so many haters? There’s a whole Reddit thread dedicated to Caillou slander. And you know what? Everything on it is a fair point. As one user points out, the message of Caillou is that you can essentially have anything you want if you whine about it long and loud enough. He’s rude. He’s selfish. He’s a total dick to his family. He’s the worst.
Tom Haverford (Parks & Recreation)
Parks and Recreation’s Tom Haverford is polarizing, to say the least. While he’s sometimes capable of selfless and endearing moments, his fratboy antics often get him more eye rolls than “aws.” Like Caillou, he’s responsible for entire Reddit threads of anti-Tom libel. It’s all earned. Tom spends half the series as a self-serving clout chaser and only shows glimmers of improvement towards the series’ end. At some point, you gotta judge him by the company he keeps. Anyone who could be friends with an asswipe like Jean-Ralphio ain’t worth knowing.
Bojack Horseman (Bojack Horseman)
Bojack Horseman is the worst. That’s the entire point of Bojack Horseman. He’s a washed-up sitcom star spiraling into drug addiction and alcoholism, a sinking ship that pulls everyone else down with him. His couch-surfing roomie Todd Chavez sums it up best: Bojack is the type of guy whose MO is act shitty and apologize in an endless loop of self-stagnation. He doesn’t ever try to improve after offering up an apology, he just keeps right on with his bad behavior until another apology is necessary. He’s a sick man, struggling with a lot, but his circumstances don’t give him carte-blanche to treat others poorly. He’s complicated, and his morally ambiguous nature is the reason by Bojack Horseman is such a poignant, troubling, enduring show.
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