"Horrid Henry," a British children's animated show, is currently making rounds on the internet almost 20 years since it first aired, although it is not because of nostalgia.
Horrid Henry's Revival: Origins
Although discussions on the cartoon show never really died down, posts about the "Horrid Henry" and the titular main character's main parents became a wide debacle just recently.
On March 14, X (formerly Twitter) user @catdets posted a short clip of the "Horrid Henry" show featuring Henry and his brother, Perfect Peter, eating breakfast.
ALL HE WANTED TO DO WAS EAT BREAKFAST pic.twitter.com/lq7fi4FtKk
— Mal-0 🪐 (@catdets) March 14, 2024
In the clip, Henry was scolded by his parents for getting the cereal across the table a bit too fast.
The clip ended with Henry being called "horrid" and whisked to school without having anything to eat.
The 1-minute and 21-second footage quickly gained strong reactions from many users, giving the post 8.2 million views, 35,000 likes, and 5,600 reposts within a week.
The account posted other clips of Henry's relationship with his parents and their apparent favoritism to the second son, gaining further angry comments from people and a bunch of quote posts.
Another user, @AXEL_theghost, quoted one of @catdet's videos with another clip from one of the show's episodes on March 16.
Both posts gained millions of views overnight as more people outside the UK are being exposed to the series.
Why are People Angry at Henry's Parents?
So, what is so "horrid" about Henry's parents that the internet is clamoring against them?
The main reason for the huge debacle on "Horrid Henry" can be linked to the show not looking like an actual kid's show with lessons and morals in each chapter.
Rather than to teach children, the show is made to be more relatable, either it portrays the character in a good or bad light.
Much worse, the parents rarely get their comeuppance from their treatment with Henry, contrary to common "good endings" in US children's shows.
This made many people, usually young adults, get alarmed over the fictional family and demand that the parents receive responsibility for their actions.
Unfortunately for them, "Horrid Henry" ended its over-decade run in 2019 with five seasons and a total of 250 episodes and two specials.
Most of the episodes are available on YouTube for free.
