9 Things From ‘How I Met Your Mother’ That Wouldn’t Fly Today

Warning: The following article references fictional depictions of sexual assault, transphobia, homophobia, and racism. Reader discretion is advised.

How I Met Your Motheris certainly legendary as far as sitcoms go for its loveable ensemble cast, heartwarming storytelling, and hilarious jokes in between. But, like many shows from the early 2000s, it’s not immune to things that didn’t age well.

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From racist behavior to slut-shaming to the very unexpected and unfunny transphobia, HIMYM — while one of CBS’ top comedies with much more good than bad to it — still had its cringeworthy and downright disrespectful moments.

Ranjit

Ranjit (Marshall Manesh) was the gang’s favorite taxi driver from Bangladesh, who would greet them with a “Hello!” everyone time they all piled into his taxi. As loveable of a recurring character as he was, he was also depicted in an incredible racist fashion.

While Ranjit revealed he was from Bangladesh in the first episode, the show gave him an Indian name while also having him speak in Farsi in some episodes, throwing characteristics from many counties together to make him the picture of a foreign taxi driver in New York City.

Homophobic Jokes

For a show set in New York City with a lead actor who is openly gay, it was always surprising to see so many homophobic jokes. You could chalk it up to being early 2000s humor, but nevertheless, it still wouldn’t fly today.

Between how Lily’s (Alyson Hannigan) attraction to Robin (Cobie Smulders) was used simply for comedic relief, Barney’s (Neil Patrick Harris) attempt to “dress like” a lesbian to pick up a queer woman, and the male character’s constant use of the word “gay” as an insult for anything remotely “feminine” leaves a bad taste in your mouth after watching.

Barney’s Sexual Assaults

The character of Barney Stinson was meant to be a player, a womanizer, someone whose sole purpose in life was to sleep with women. But there were plenty of instances where the show took Barney’s personality and antics too far and verged on sexual assault.

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If it’s not the constant tricks and schemes Barney’s pulling to get a woman into bed, it’s the fact he films their intimate moments without their consent, keeps a list of every woman he’s slept with, and refers to himself as a guy who always gets a “yes.”

Fat Jokes

It was an unfortunate trend of shows from the early 2000s — Friends, The Office, and even How I Met Your Mother — to make straight-up fat jokes. On several occasions, the characters would insult a person’s weight, but no one got the brunt like Patrice.

The clear workplace abuse aside, Robin constantly ridiculed her coworker Patrice’s (Ellen D. Williams) weight. While the point of the running bit was for Robin to lash out at Patrice’s kindness, it often came at the expense of making fun of the character’s weight.

Slut-Shaming

Slut-shaming happened more often than not on HIMYM, especially by the female characters. Lily and Robin would always shame the girls Barney slept with, and Robin herself was deemed a slut for once falling for one of Barney’s plays.

The show even had an entire episode titled “Slutty Pumpkin” that — while a notable episode in the HIMYM timeline — still shames Katie Holmes‘ character, who dressed in a skimpy pumpkin costume one Halloween.

The Hot/Crazy Scale

HIMYM was famous for referring to women as “crazy,” whether it be while in a relationship or after ending one. The men on the show feared and joked about it, despite not being very humorous then or now.

Barney even admits to having a “hot/crazy” scale, in which he weighs a girl’s hotness with their “craziness” and decides that she’s allowed to be “crazy” as long as she’s equally hot, which has got to be the peak of misogyny for this show.

“Who’s Hot and Who’s Scott?”

Probably the most problematic “joke” from HIMYM was the Who’s Hot and Who’s Scott game played by the gang, during which they would observe a group of women and try to pick out the transgender woman.

This is offensive in more ways than can be counted and would never be done on a sitcom today, similar to how Chandler from FRIENDS was always humiliated by his father being a transgender woman. And if the HIMYM gang’s careless use of transphobic slurs isn’t blatantly bigoted enough, then this so-called game certainly is.

Jokes About Male Characters’ Feminine Sides

This is one trope that’s slowly but surely fazing out of television now, but back when HIMYM was airing, it was typical for a male character’s femininity to be made the butt of a joke — or several.

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It was usually Ted’s (Josh Radnor) feminine side that was made fun of, but Marshall certainly had his moment, during which Lily would often respond with, “Stop being such a girl!” while Barney would throw down a riveting insult from the ’90s and early 2000s: “Gay!”

The Racist Episode

As if the character of Ranjit wasn’t racist enough, the show had to go and make the entire main cast commit cultural appropriation.

It was in the season 9 episode “Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment In Slapmarra” where the entire white main cast dressed up like Chinese people, even using mock Chinese accents. Unsurprisingly, this naked display of racism sparked outrage on the internet after it aired in 2014.

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