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Luann Sex Scene Too Much For Newspaper

Published: July 10, 2026 1 minute 14 comments

“You thought it was a joke

and so you laughed You laughed!

You know you laughed.

I heard you laugh!

You laughed and laughed and laughed.”

Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans – June 23, 2026

When I noted the week-long amorous adventure of Brad and Toni in the Luann comic strip the reaction was a general “pfft, c’mon” over my reservations that it may have been a little too much for mainstream newspapers.

But now they’ve come to take it away.

From Michael A. Smith editor of The Galveston County Daily News on June 29, 2026 (or here):

First, we apologize for letting changes to the comics page offerings happen before we announced they would happen.

That happened because the changes came about very quickly.

After noting the Sunday-only status of Big Nate he continues:

Coincidental to that, management Friday decided to drop the comic “Luann” after reader complaints about the story line in which a cartoon man and woman are sharing a shower. One reader called the story line “pornographic.”

“Luann” has been replaced with Adam@Home.

Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans – June 25, 2026

Yes, there have been objections to the prudery (or here):

I am really disappointed in your treatment of “Luann.” It was a modest breach, if that.

You have let many worse things go by. Could you not send Greg Evans a note saying you won’t print those days?

I think you have done that before.

I have been following that comic for years, and I know exactly what the cartoonist was conveying, and it was part of the story.

I didn’t even find it offensive, and I can’t imagine that anyone would.

And also (or here):

I have always believed in a fair, impartial, independent and above all else “free press.”

I did not always read the “Luann” comic strip but I was surprised when it disappeared from The Daily News.

I was truly disappointed when I found out why. I guess I thought that The Daily News believed in the freedom of speech and a free press.

Maybe you did. At least up until the day after the last “Luann” comic strip was printed.

opening quote credit: Jerry Samuels

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Comments 14

  1. You should have used “They’re coming to take me away, HA HA” as the closing song link.

    1. I thought I did with the Jerry Samuels link.

  2. Freedom of the press is reserved for them what owns one.

  3. I am no prude, but No I don’t want to see this on the Funnies page. Ick.

    If I were the editor, I would drop this strip. It is not about freedom of speech, it is about cultivating content to provide the reader with a specific sort of experience. In my opinion, this does not fit the expectation of what the experience of reading newspaper comics should be.

    1. From Australia: a nation that refers to bathroom, rest room, or for God’s sake powder room, rather than toilet is a nation of prudes. It’s more obvious when you are on the outside looking in.

  4. On the one hand, this is the culmination of a long, if intermittent, arc about a married couple deciding to have a child and then struggling to conceive. It’s good work.

    On the other hand sex between Luann characters may not pass the breakfast test, but at least it isn’t happening in Barney Google/Snuffy Smith.

  5. As I mentioned in a comment to the previous post, I thought that some papers would drop the shower sequence, but I did not expect that they would replace the entire strip with something else.

  6. Meanwhile there’s a vintage taboo panel in the Born loser comic strip by Chip Samson panel scene on July 26 1996 at night which Brutus talks to Gladys and makes a joke about women being sex objects and Gladys runs off. I’m very shocked Andrew feature syndicate allowed it to be featured in the family friendly newspaper section. I quit reading it after the naughty jokes about women were referenced and the negative verbal abuse being the theme in the Born loser as a cringe joke.

  7. The puritan clutching of pearls merely reflects a society of rampant venereal disease, teen pregnancy, opposition to birth-control and women’s rights, and fervent, zealous religious attacks on other’s lifestyles.
    Did I miss something? I didn’t see any sex organs or sudsy copulation. How was it porn?
    And yes, Jay, I’m afraid you ARE a prude.

  8. I’d think they wouldn’t have minded since Brad and Toni are actually a married couple doing what married couples do.
    Hardly pornographic by any standards. Sheesh.

    1. Bear in mind that Little Ricky Ricardo and Richie Petrie were conceived by couples who slept in twin beds separated by a nightstand.

      1. My maternal grandparents had the same bedroom arrangement, but they also had seven children.

  9. My grandparents had whole separate bedrooms because he snored super-loudly.
    Happily married 55 years.

  10. It’s a silly reason to drop Luann.
    That all the characters have faded into insipidness while Luann has spent, what, 12 years or so in community college, and they were so out of plots they had to spend a whole week in the shower is a much better one.

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