The internet was set alight in mid-June 2021 by an article in Variety magazine in which Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker, co-creators of the HBO Max adult superhero television show "Harley Quinn," stated that DC Comics killed a scene in the show in which Batman was shown performing oral sex on Catwoman.
"And DC was like, 'You can’t do that. You absolutely cannot do that.' They're like, 'Heroes don't do that.' So, we said, 'Are you saying heroes are just selfish lovers?' They were like, 'No, it's that we sell consumer toys for heroes. It's hard to sell a toy if Batman is also going down on someone,'" Halpern is quoted as saying.
We reached out to DC Comics to see if the above statement was accurate and will update this story if we receive a response. Until then we're rating this claim "Research in Progress."
The ensuing controversy engulfed social media with humorous comments and memes.
The discourse reached the point where "The Daily Show" took notice and threw in some jokes of their own:
The Batman-oral sex controversy apparently sparked interest in another Batman-sex related topic.
In 2014, Adam West, the actor who portrayed Batman in the original TV series in the 1960s, said he got kicked out of an orgy in Hollywood because he and Frank Gorshin, the actor who played the Riddler in the series, wouldn't stop acting like Batman and Riddler.