One Seinfeld episode was considered so offensive it was banned from TV and led to a public apology

Seinfeld is famously known for being 'a show about nothing', instead of your typical cops, cowboys or criminals.

If you haven't seen the nine series that aired between 1989 and 1998, it's pretty similar to Friends - in fact, Jerry Seinfeld has claimed Friends stole his ideas, but we'll get into that later.

Where I'm getting with this is, for a mundane show, Seinfeld managed to cause so much controversy in one episode that it was banned from TV and forced to publicly apologize.

The Seinfeld episode led to protests outside NBC's headquarters (Andrew Savulich/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

In season nine, episode 20 - titled 'Puerto Rican Day', the crew travel through New York on the way home after leaving a Mets game early when they get caught in traffic due to the Puerto Rican Day parade.

They all desert the car and set off in different directions - Kramer, played by Michael Richards, needs to visit the toilet and goes to an apartment sale pretending to be a wealthy businessman hoping to buy the property.

When he makes it outside, Kramer is given a sparkler and accidentally sets fire to a Puerto Rican flag. He then attempts to put out the blaze by throwing it to the ground and repeatedly stomping on it.

Of course, an angry mob forms from the Puerto Rican Day parade believing Kramer was carrying out a hate crime in front of them.

Kramer then cries: "It’s like this every day in Puerto Rico."

Then triggered a tidal wave of backlash - residents of the Puerto Rican community gathered outside Rockefeller Centre, NBC's headquarters in New York City.

The TV station was forced to apologize and didn't air the episode for four years. In 2002, they decided with the show having come to an end, enough time had passed for it to air again.

So, what's the Seinfeld versus Friends beef then?

Well, it came when Jerry Seinfeld released a promotional clip of his film Unfrosted, which is also his first shot in the director's chair.

During the video, Seinfeld himself is accused of copyright infringement due to his references to '221 trademarked breakfasts' in the film.

Hugh Grant in Unfrosted (Netflix)

That's a lot of breakfast. I'm not sure I could name 21 trademarked breakfasts, let alone 221!

In the clip, Seinfeld is confronted by the fictional president of Pop-Tarts, Kelman P. Gasworth. Anyway, in the video Gawsworth says: "Tell me, how does it feel when people steal your ideas and then do whatever they want with them?"

Responding with a quip against the the hit 90s sitcom, Seinfeld says: "You mean like Friends?"

The sitcom followed the lives of a group of friends in their day to day lives, Friends also followed the lives of a group of, well, friends.

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