This was a common trope in TV and comedy going back to at least the 1970s. And it echoed the long and storied tradition of US efforts at censorship even in the face of constitutional protections. These disputes had reverberations, with the censorship encouraging illicit consumption and the protests helping define what future censors focus in on.

George Carlin had a famous act - 7 Words You Can't Say On TV. Curiously enough, this resulted in Rep. Doug Ose (R-California) introducing H.R. 3687, the "Clean Airwaves Act", in 2003 that sought to codify a derivative list of Carlin's Dirty Words as legally designated "Profane" by US code.

"The Filthy Fifteen" was a list of 15 songs compiled by Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), a project lead by Tennessee Senator and future US Vice President Al Gore's wife Tipper, which the organization demanded be banned from the airwaves back in 1985. This kicked off an extended back-and-forth between artists and congresscritters, as they argued over what constituted infringements on speech.

"Banned in Boston" is a phrase that was employed from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century, to describe a literary work, song, motion picture, or play which had been prohibited from distribution or exhibition in Boston, Massachusetts. During this period, Boston officials had wide authority to ban works featuring "objectionable" content, and often banned works with sexual content or foul language. This even extended to the $5 bill from the 1896 "Educational" series of banknotes featuring allegorical figures that were partially nude.

One could go so far as to describe it as a kind-of Hegelian dialectic cycle