History HarsherInHindsight / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/InsideJob2021'': In "How Reagan Got Her Groove Back", Reagan describes [[ArchnemesisDad Rand]]'s plans as the new head of Cognito, Inc. as "the most globally-damaging midlife crisis since Elon Musk". Right as Season 2 dropped, Musk completed his $44 billion purchase of Twitter and made sweeping changes that tanked its public image in a matter of ''weeks''.

** "Along Came a Spider..." has a gag in which Franchise/SpiderMan tries to speak in a BadassBaritone, but fails so badly at sounding tough, ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} agent Clay Quartermain asks, "What's wrong with your voice?" Before this episode aired, ExecutiveMeddling had the writers' first choice for Spider-Man's actor, Creator/JoshKeaton, dubbed over by Creator/DrakeBell, as synergy with ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012''.[[note]]Never mind how many other characters sound and/or look completely different between the two shows...[[/note]] After the airing, cue peeved Josh Keaton fans decrying Drake Bell's performance as inferior, and questioning the need to change an already-animated Spidey's voice. Eventually, even the head writer of ''EMH'' called it "[[CreatorBacklash pretty unnecessary]]" of Marvel to replace Keaton with Bell.

* ''HarsherInHindsight/TotalDrama''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamilyLouderAndProuder'': The episode "Father Figures" has [[HasTwoMommies Maya's two dads]] becoming a hit-button issue at the school, with Zoey opting to "stay neutral" about the issue so she won't risk her campaign for student body president. The episode dropped ''just'' as Disney was facing a major PR crisis when it came to light that the company donated to politicians that supported Florida's controversial "Don't Say Gay" bill, creating an immense wave of backlash from employees, shareholders and fans alike. Bruce W. Smith commented on the coincidence by tweeting, "Timing is everything".

* ''WesternAnimation/DefendersOfTheEarth'': "Mystery of the Book" [[DreamIntro opens with Mandrake and Kshin both dreaming]] that they are being menaced by the MonsterOfTheWeek. The dream sequence ends with the monster sending Mandrake plummeting into an abyss. A later episode, "The Adoption of Kshin", reveals that Kshin lost his parents after a stone bridge over a ravine collapsed while they were trying to cross it, and Kshin, though he was very young at the time, still remembers it happening. Knowing this makes the idea of him having to watch Mandrake die in a similar manner even more disturbing, even if it was AllJustADream.

* ''WesternAnimation/DefendersOfTheEarth'': "Mystery of the Book" opens with Mandrake and Kshin [[DreamIntro both dreaming]] that they are being menaced by the MonsterOfTheWeek. The dream sequence ends with the monster sending Mandrake plummeting into an abyss. A later episode, "The Adoption of Kshin", reveals that Kshin lost his parents after a stone bridge over a ravine collapsed while they were trying to cross it, and Kshin, though he was very young at the time, still remembers it happening. Knowing this makes the idea of him having to watch Mandrake die in a similar manner even more disturbing, even if it was AllJustADream.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': In "The First Temple", Marcy mentions that she got so good at a game called "Flipwart" that she even beat King Andrias at it. However, in "Olivia and Yunan", [[spoiler:Andrias reveals that his master, The Core, wants her as a [[DemonicPossession host]]. The reason? She beat Andrias at Flipwart.]]
** As part of the Disney Theme Song Takeover promo, Marcy breaks the fourth wall and gets to recap her own arrival to Amphibia to a version of the main theme. Being prenaturally clumsy, the song ends with her hoping "nothing bad happens to her" and her friend King Andrias cheesily winking to the camera as the song's stinger. [[spoiler: Andrias would later betray Marcy and cause her near-fatal injuries.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Centaurworld}}'', when [[TeamMom Wammawink]] is first introduced, she's overprotective, and can even be considered a little paranoid. Later, though, Horse, along with the audience, learns ''why'' Wammawink is this way. [[DarkAndTroubledPast It turns out that her old home was attacked by minotaurs,]] [[LastOfHisKind and she's the only survivor]]. No wonder she's so overprotective. She lost one family, and she doesn't want to lose another one.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Centaurworld}}'':
** When [[TeamMom Wammawink]] is first introduced, she's overprotective, and can even be considered a little paranoid. Later, though, Horse, along with the audience, learns ''why'' Wammawink is this way. [[DarkAndTroubledPast It turns out that her old home was attacked by minotaurs,]] [[LastOfHisKind and she's the only survivor]]. No wonder she's so overprotective. She lost one family, and she doesn't want to lose another one.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' had quite a few things that became a bit awkward ever since Chris Savino's firing from Nick following [[http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/loud-house-showrunner-chris-savino-fired-nickelodeon-sexual-harassment-charges-1202594788/ accusations of sexual harassment and threats of industry blacklisting]] that goes as far back as ''2004'', such as:

*** Additionally, the fact that XANA was able to attack via indirect ways - albeit fantastical, but occasionally did things like access cell phone towers - might make someone feel ''quite'' uncomfortable knowing that people were able to do just that.

* ''WesternAnimation/WaitTillYourFatherGetsHome'' features the character Ralph Kane. He was a DeliberatelyBadExample of a RightWingMilitiaFanatic made to be such a parody of right-winged people that he turned down a membership in the KKK on the grounds they were "Too liberal". This was made in TheSeventies. Suffice to say, after TheNineties and ''especially'' in the 21st Century when Right-winged extremism became on the rise in North America and Europe, he's not seen so much as a DeliberatelyBadExample so much as eerily prophetic. Some people have commented that compared to 21st century conservatives in North America and Europe, Ralph's actually ''moderate''.

** ''"One Flew Over The Cuckoo Clock"'' has Slappy driven insane by the endless surge of weekday talk shows which became all too real out-of-universe when weekday cartoons on syndicated television ended circa 2006 and were replaced with talk shows such as the highly age-inappropriate The Jerry Springer Show and Maury, and court shows like Judge Judy. A similar fate would occur to Saturday morning cartoons 8 years later due to their utter failure to compete with the rise of cable, video games, [=DVDs=], WebSite/YouTube and streaming services like Creator/{{Netflix}}. Ironically, ''Animaniacs'' itself would return in 2020 as [[WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020 a reboot]] on Creator/{{Hulu}}.

** ''"One Flew Over The Cuckoo Clock"'' has Slappy driven insane by the endless surge of weekday talk shows which became all too real out-of-universe when weekday cartoons on syndicated television ended circa 2006 and were replaced with talk shows such as the highly age-inappropriate The Jerry Springer Show and Maury, and court shows like Judge Judy. A similar fate would occur to Saturday morning cartoons 8 years later due to their utter failure to compete with the rise of cable, video games, DVDs, YouTube and streaming services like Netflix. Ironically, Animaniacs itself would return in 2020 as a reboot on Hulu.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** One of the stations in the New New York tubeway system was given as "J.F.K., Jr. Airport". After the real-life John F. Kennedy, Jr. died when his private plane crashed, the line was replaced with "Radio City Mutant Hall".[[note]]Though the original line can still be heard on the full-episode animatic that appears on ''Futurama'' volume one DVD and on the UK airings.[[/note]]
** The line in the first episode about the Stop & Drop Suicide booths being "Americans' favorite suicide booth since 2008" becomes a bit wince-worthy in light of 2008's economic meltdown and the invention of an actual suicide machine in the same year.
** In the pilot, Fry's reaction to realizing that his parents and everyone he's ever known died hundreds of years ago is a triumphant "[[BlackComedy Ya-hoo!]]" As the series continued, episodes such as "The Luck of the Fryrish," "Jurassic Bark" and "Game of Tones" explored Fry's relationships with the family he left behind and showed how profoundly he, and they, were affected by the loss, leading to the show's most infamous [[TearJerker Tear Jerkers]].
** In "The Lesser of Two Evils", the main characters visit a theme park modeled on 2000s New York. There's a brief scene where the stock market drops from about 11,000 to 7,200, similar numbers to the real life 2008 crash.[[note]]Fortunately, it jumps right back up to 11,000, and all the stockbrokers who jumped to their apparent deaths float back up into the building via jetpack.[[/note]] Considering that the scene was supposed to be a "distorted history" take on the crash that started the Great Depression; that makes this a sort of bizarre life imitating art imitating life.