Discriminate and Switch

"Roger Rabbit: I knew I couldn't trust your kind. O.J. Simpson: The f*** do you mean, "your kind?" Roger Rabbit: Real people! I meant real people!"

- Robot Chicken

A form of Bait and Switch comedy that teases with prejudice and discrimination, where one party looks like they're about to discriminate (or are) against someone for some politically incorrect reason, but in reality ... it's because they like avocado ice cream. (What? Don't judge it 'till you try it!)

Can include gender, race, religion, or other sensitive issues, and will be switched with anything from liking that insufferable Opposing Sports Team, being from Snubsburg, or just because.

The subversion is that while they aren't being discriminated against for being X minority, they are being discriminated for being Z equally bad and un-PC-to-discriminate-against minority.

Not to be confused with Pretend Prejudice. Compare Mistaken for Racist, Stereotype Reaction Gag

Anime and Manga
""Shirotabi, please forgive me for bringing you back to life! I know now that it could never work between us. As much as we want it to, it could never be! Not because you're a rabbit, but because you're BLACK!""
 * An early episode of Darker than Black has a white hitman telling his black partner that his kind are scum, fit only to serve others. The catch is that the black partner is a Contractor, essentially an amoral living weapon. The scene is probably a Lampshade Hanging on how Fantastic Racism is often used as a blatant parallel to actual racism.
 * In the ADV Films Gag Dub of Ghost Stories, while the protagonists are defeating the Monster of the Week, a pet bunny rabbit which has brought back to life, turned into a giant rabbit monster, and is chasing after its former caretaker, the caretaker says to her former pet

Comic Books
"The Thing: Didn't they come up with a cure for your kind? Wolverine: You got a problem with mutants? The Thing: I meant Canadians."
 * Used in the Supreme Power comics, where the Lex Luthor stand-in Emil Burbank tells the Ultimate Nick Fury, who looks a lot like Samuel L. Jackson, that he "despise[s] you people." And then clarifies that he of course means security specialists. What else?
 * In Astonishing X-Men:


 * In an Archie Comics story from The Sixties, Veronica, seeing Chuck and Jughead some distance away, tells Archie she doesn't want "his kind" at her upcoming party. Archie assumes she's prejudiced against blacks and launches into a tirade, saying if Chuck isn't welcome there, "you can take your party and go plumb to blazes. Dig?" Veronica explains that Chuck is most welcome at the party, and that by "his kind" she meant Jughead, who's a "slob." Somehow this mollifies Archie, despite Jughead being his best friend.
 * In Elf Quest, white elf chief Cutter is lifemate to black elf Leetah. The series' Big Bad, Winnowill, likes to call Leetah her "dark sister" and at one point starts a discussion with her about race. It turns out all elves consider skin color to be purely aesthetic - the discussion is actually about Cutter's animal heritage, which Winnowill considers vile.

Film
"Joe: Do they have clubs for you people? (Beat. Finbar and Olivia exchange glances.) Finbar: What? Joe (oblivious): You know, for train watchers."
 * Not race, but related: Finbar McBride, the protagonist of The Station Agent, has achondroplasia - one of a number of disorders causing dwarfism. He begins the movie staying with a friend who works in a model train shop - a hobby they both share - but after the friend's death he ends up moving to rural New Jersey, where he meets Joe Oramas and Olivia Harris. Later on in the film, while Joe is busy cooking up some food:


 * In a variant, Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack brings his friend Mr. Wang to the country club. He warns the Asian not to admit to being Jewish, because the club is restricted.
 * In the American remake of Death at a Funeral Elaine, a black woman is going to her uncle's funeral accompanied by her white fiance Oscar who is extremely aware that his prospective father in law hates him, the implication being that it is because he doesn't want a white man marrying his daughter. Actually it turns out Elaine's father just hates Oscar because he thinks Oscar is an idiot and he wanted Elaine to marry her ex, Derek, who is also white.
 * In Rush Hour 3, Detective Carter, played by Chris Tucker, enters a taxi cab in France, and the driver remarks he won't serve "his kind"—meaning Americans, not black people.

Literature

 * Discworld:
 * Men at Arms, when Angua says "is it because I'm a w..." and you think she's saying "woman" until it turns out she's also a werewolf.
 * Carrot also assumes that's what she meant, leading to an unfortunate incident when the full moon is out.
 * Both Angua and Carrot (and the reader, given how certain lines are phrased) think that Vimes doesn't want her in Watch because she's a woman. No, he just doesn't like werewolves. But the misunderstanding persists for most of the book, and of course means that Angua initially has very little respect for him.
 * Another Discworld one that might count- in Soul Music, a raven comments to Susan about his dislike for the "N-word"- he means "nevermore".
 * One from Good Omens with Neil Gaiman - Shadwell isn't racist; he just hates everybody.
 * Morris Kazenstein, the genius inventor from Sewer, Gas and Electric, is stricken with a bad case of Jewish liberal guilt when dealing with his Palestinian foster siblings. They take constant merciless advantage of his feelings — even though they were raised in the UK — until, when he finally gets fed up and suggests they go fight to liberate Palestine, they launch into a tirade against Morris ... for being an American.
 * Vlad Taltos, of the Dragaera novels, is occasionally shocked when a Dragaeran despises him for being a Jhereg, as opposed to being an Easterner.
 * In the Dalziel and Pascoe novels, DC Shirley Novello discovers that when the CID team go to the pub, she is always expected to fetch the drinks no matter whose round it was and assumes this is because she is a woman. She later discovers that it is simply a custom that the lowest ranking officer present has to get the drinks in.
 * In the Mercedes Lackey The Last Herald-Mage trilogy, the eponymous herald-mage Vanyel is gay and extremely sensitive about it. When he discovers that people are trying to keep him at a distance, he assumes it's because he's gay. One of the other heralds sets him straight and explains that it isn't the fact that he's gay that scares everyone, but the fact that he's an uber-powerful mage with a less than warm and friendly personality, and under a lot of stress to boot - people are worried that he might freak out and level half the city.
 * In Shannon Donnely's Proper Conduct, Nevin assumes Penelope's aloof and unfriendly attitude towards him is because he's half-Roma. It's actually because his (white) father is responsible for her family's dire financial straits.

Live-Action TV
"Wayne: Why I gotta do the African Chant? Drew: Because Colin would just mess it up."
 * Diane on Cheers claims to have integrated her sorority. Turns out the oppressed masses for whom she secured membership were... girls with poorly publicized coming-out parties.
 * In Gimme A Break a black female character was rejected for a job, and she thought it was because she was black. So while she was bringing discrimination charges, several black (male) employees seemed to gratuitously walk by. The character asserted they were just hired to refute the charges, causing the suspected racist to say, "And people wonder why I don't hire women!"
 * There's a related scene in The Golden Girls when Dorothy objects to her son's marrying a black woman, but only because she's twice his age, while the bride expects her mother to object to the age difference, but she really objects because Dorothy's son is white.
 * Blanche dared to attend her prom with Benjamin, despite the scorn of others. Dorothy assumes Benjamin was black. Nope. He was a Yankee from New Jersey.
 * The Kids in The Hall spoofed this. A white gay man is being bashed by his cab driver, but it turns out the cabbie thought he was Chinese.
 * In Goodness Gracious Me, one scene has one sketch where an Indian man comes out to his parents with his partner. The scene ends with him getting slapped and told he should have found a nice Indian Boy instead.
 * In an episode of Malcolm in the Middle, Hal thought that Abe and his friends picked on him at poker night. He spent a big chunk of the episode complaining about how you think such things don't matter any more until they come up and bite you in the arse, all the while the subtext is that it's for him being white and them being black. Eventually, he confronts Abe and, after some baiting, exclaims "You and your friends ganged up on me because I'm not a professional", the others being lawyers, dentists and so on.
 * In Reaper, Sock says "Yes, Steve and Tony smell terrific, and yeah, they've got great taste in beer, but They. Are. *oh-so-short pause* Demons." They're also gay...
 * Seventh Heaven: Reverend Camden overheard an argument between Matt's Jewish father-in-law and Ruthie's Muslim friend that sounded like they were attacking each other's religions. When he came into the hall to break it up, he realized they were arguing about their favorite baseball teams.
 * In another episode the Camdens are hosting a party with that same Muslim family, only to find nobody wants to attend. He eventually finds out that people assume the family is French because of their last name. (The episode was made around the time the Iraq War started. Subverted somewhat because people are still nervous about attending when the truth is found out.)
 * In Flight of the Conchords Bret and Jemaine are "racially" abused for being New Zealanders by a fruit-seller. Finally they stand up to him with a stirring speech about the rights of all human beings, whereupon it all turns out to be a big misunderstanding - the man thought they were Australian! So then they all go and make offensive gestures outside the Australian Embassy together.
 * *Snif* It's... Beautiful.
 * On Veronica Mars, when Veronica's Black Best Friend Wallace moves in with his new roommate, the roommate acts uncomfortable. He explains, "I specifically said I didn't want a roommate who was...uh, you know...better looking than me."
 * On My Name Is Earl, Joy feels like she has to hide her second (black) husband from her father because in high school, he wouldn't let her date a black guy. Turns out Dad loves black people (especially black women)...and he didn't want her dating anyone that might just be her brother.
 * House had a similar situation; naturally, it was critical to solving the case.
 * In the US version of Whose Line Is It Anyway Wayne (the only black actor) is told to do the African chant.

"Stephen Colbert: Now, I'm no supporter of Obama. But if he does win... Anyone would have to admit, this is a night long overdue. We, as a nation, have reached that mountaintop because at long last, the United States have fulfilled the greatest part of freedom. We have a President... who is Hawaiian."
 * Because Wayne can sing and Colin really can't
 * Pushing Daisies, when Emerson is refused service in a bar not because he's black but because he's tall.
 * Used on Blue Collar TV in the "Fat Family" sketch, when the daughter brings home her boyfriend: "It's not that we don't like you because you're Jewish...it's because you're-" * look of disgust* "-skinny."
 * Played with in Everybody Hates Chris, when the white coach informs Chris that he hates "people". The narration snarks "black people", but as the coach continues, it becomes clear he's a misanthrope. He mentions several negative stereotypes applied to black people, concluding with "they're lazy. White people are so lazy that they needed slaves to do the work for 'em."
 * Done beautifully right as The Daily Show was getting ready to announce Barack Obama's Presidential win. Stephen Colbert has been sulking through the entire show because McCain is losing.

"Lily: (to Robin) Come on, he's mad at you because of [some reason that this troper can't remember], not because you didn't like Field of Dreams. Ted: (to Barney and Marshall) How do you not like Field of Dreams?!"
 * One of Colbert's running jokes is that he's completely colorblind to race, and can't tell without asking, or having some event related to stereotypes about black or white people occur to him. (He can get a cab in New York; police officers call him "sir"; he dances with his thumbs out...)
 * In The IT Crowd, Moss and Roy get roped into seeing Gay: A Gay Musical, "a story of a young man trying to find his sexuality in the uncaring Thatcher years", containing "scenes of graphic homoeroticism". Moss comments "Oh, yuck! It's set in The Eighties!".
 * Peculiar example from Whoopi Goldberg's shortlived sitcom Whoopie. She's been charged with smoking in public and tries to get the judge to dismiss the charge, but he refuses and gives her a stiff fine. She accuses him of being prejudiced. When he declares he's not racist, she clarifies: He's prejudiced against smokers. And then he declares that he is and that she'll pay the fine anyways.
 * In Desperate Housewives, Carlos knows his wife is having an affair, but not with whom. Suspecting the TV repairman, he breaks into his house and beats him up. Then he looks around and notices the artwork... it's pretty clear the man is gay. The same thing happens to Carlos again. Carlos goes to jail for hate crimes. He actually gets off, but lost his temper at the trial on an unrelated matter and went to jail anyway. Temper, temper.
 * It gets better. The second gay man he beats up is a friend of their gardener, who Carlos thinks is a swell young man. Carlos winds up losing his temper at the trial because the gardener wonders aloud why it takes him so much longer to do their garden then anyone else's...
 * In the pilot episode of Stargate SG-1, Captain Samantha Carter, Stargate Command's new astrophysics expert, eventually loses her cool over Colonel O'Neill's poor attitude towards her and gives a "just because my reproductive organs are in the inside" lecture that would itself become ripe for lampshading in later seasons. Afterward, O'Neill kindly explains that he has no problem serving with women. It's scientists he doesn't like.
 * Of course, she confidently replies that she logged time over Iraq in the Gulf War (it was 1997, the other one hadn't happened yet).
 * There's also a notable inversion of this trope in an episode where the SG-1 team meets with some aliens who are understandably somewhat uncomfortable with the team's resident Jaffa, Teal'c.
 * In episode 12 of the third season of News Radio, Lisa gets the nod for "Cutest Reporter in New York." Catherine gets upset that Lisa was picked over her and explains that every time she's gotten a promotion, it was because of "you know what." "Because you're black?" Lisa asks innocently. Catherine responds: "What? No, because of these! And this!" (as she points to her bosom and behind, respectively.)
 * The unfortunately short-lived Andy Richter Controls the Universe contained an amusing variation. In one episode Andy delivers an offensive tirade against the Irish, not realizing that his new coworker is Irish. The new coworker is also black, so when the incident is reported to Andy's superiors, they assume he was insulting black people. When he corrects them that he was insulting the Irish they reply, "Oh... well then what's the problem?". The scene then smash cuts to another scene of said superiors being chewed out by their superiors, and the cycle repeats.
 * In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a Cardassian scientist tells O'Brien that she's 'not used to your kind being good engineers'. 'You mean humans?' 'I mean males.'
 * On the other hand, the sniping between them is revealed later to be the Cardassian equivalent of flirting. Miles did not know this at the time.
 * Which has got to be its own trope.
 * In the episode of How I Met Your Mother where Barney Stinson's gay, black half-brother James (played by Wayne Brady) announces he's getting married, Barney is shocked and appalled. Not at gay marriage, but marriage in general. Especially because if gay guys start getting married, then soon everybody will want to. "Think of how the American family will be strengthened!"
 * In another episode, a slightly different version after Ted and Robin have a fight:

"Martha: He's just kind to me, that's all. And not everyone's that considerate, what with me being... [points at her face] Jenny: ...a Londoner?"
 * Played totally straight in an episode of The Father Dowling Mysteries in which the crime involves an African-American family. Father Dowling's housekeeper gets on well with the wise old grandfather, but when he suggests taking their relationship further she explains she can't do that, they're too different. Because he's Episcopalian. And everyone shares a good laugh about religious intolerance.
 * In the Doctor Who episode "Human Nature", Martha (who's black, lest you forget), working as a maid, is the subject of jeers from the privately educated kids in the school she's undercover in. She later says to a colleague that it's quite nice that at least the temporarily human Doctor is nice to her, because not everyone would be nice...

"Hardison: Can't a brotha like matzo ball soup?"
 * She is then accosted by a student who makes a horrifically rude comment about her race.
 * Leverage inverts it. In "The Homecoming Job", Hardison needs to distract some security guards, so when they pull him over to search his truck he starts ranting about how they're prejudiced against him... because he's Jewish.

"JD: "Hi, Snoop Dogg Intern." Black Doctor: "Hey!" JD: "Sorry, Snoop Dogg Resident." Black Doctor: "HEY!" JD: "Snoop Dogg Attending?" Black Doctor: (internal monologue) "Why doesn't anybody call me Ronald?""
 * The defense attorney on Picket Fences spent most of the series assuming that people keep giving him the cold shoulder because he's Jewish. The sheriff's wife eventually calls him out on this, telling him to his face that it's because he's obnoxious.
 * Scrubs:

"Doorman: Holy crap! It is you! Sorry for the mix-up, Tan. Shawn Spencer: I beg your pardon? My name is Black. His (Gus) name is Tan. I can't believe you just made that assumption. You should be ashamed of yourself and your family."
 * In another episode JD brings Turk to a patient's room to get him to consider surgery. The old-fashioned white patient tells JD "You know I don't like his people." Both look shocked before he clarifies that he meant surgeons.
 * On Psych :

""Remarkable people, the Blacks. Musical, very athletic, not very good swimmers. Again, I'm talking about the family.""
 * Lampshaded in a Saturday Night Live skit which featured Heather Locklear as the saleswoman of a home shopping channel who made incredibly racist statements throughout the broadcast, drawing the ire of viewers. At the end of the skit, a disclaimer was posted in which the writers claimed that they wrote the skit in an effort to show how wrong prejudice and bigotry are. . ."But of course, that should be obvious to anyone who isn't a retard."
 * In an edition of Weekend Update, Tina Fey accused Jimmy Fallon of being a "specist" after reporting a story about a man being attacked by two black bears, asking "if it was polar bears would you have said 'two white bears'?" Jimmy responds by revealing that he is married to a black bear, shows the audience the wedding photo, and then asks Tina "Who's the idiot now-- you, or me, the guy who married a black bear?" making this a subversion of an already subversive trope.
 * Daniel Tosh does this a lot, by saying something that sounds racist then clarifying it, usually followed by admonishing the audience for laughing when they thought he was being racist.
 * Inverted in his standup bit about cannibalism: https://web.archive.org/web/20101102083734/http://www.youtube.com//watch?v=3kDUk_BLZzo
 * That '70s Show: When a gay couple moves in next to the Formans, it's not the fact that they're gay that ruins any chance at a friendship with conservative, old-fashioned Red. It's the fact that they're Minnesota Vikings fans, while Red is about as big of a Green Bay Packers fan as you'll ever see.
 * In Arrested Development, Lucille complains about having been woken by a "colored man." The color in question being blue; her son-in-law was trying out for the Blue Man Group and didn't warn her before coming over.
 * Played with on Supernatural, when a couple of African-American hunters are accosted in a bar by a hostile white skinhead. His taunts seem like the standard "Your kind don't belong in here" schtick ... until his eyes are revealed. In this case, "your kind" means monster-hunters, because the skinhead  is possessed.
 * On Thirty Rock, Jack encourages Liz to date a character played by Wayne Brady because "he's a Black." Turns out that Black is his last name, and Jack is good friends with his family.


 * Used in a frequently quoted bit from Seinfeld. Jerry's dentist tells him a mildly offensive Jewish joke, then explains that it's OK, because the dentist just converted to Judaism. Jerry later complains that he thinks the dentist merely converted for the jokes. When someone says, "And that offends you, as a Jew?" Jerry says, "No, it offends me as a comedian!"
 * And in the same episode, Jerry tells a joke about dentists and gets accused of being an "anti-dentite". When a Jewish dentist talks about how his people have been persecuted, Jerry asks "The Jews?", to which he responds, "No, dentists!".
 * In The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Moseby tells his midget older brother that he was given special treatment from his mother. Why? Because he was lactose intolerant! This turns out to be the older brother's Berserk Button.

Professional Wrestling

 * Christian realizes what makes him different from the other members of Team Kingston.

Recorded and Stand up Comedy
"There's someone using a cell phone in here. [Pause] Black. [Pause] No, the cell's black, dude's white."
 * Brazilian comedian Danilo Gentili, in a number about a new law in São Paulo that didn't allow the use of cell phones on libraries, imitated a person in the library reporting a violation...by calling from the cell phone.


 * Tim Minchin would like to share some thoughts on prejudice.
 * In a standup routine, Dave Chappelle was talking about an incident where he was confronted by the KKK. "I mean, I was shocked. It's the 21st century." (Beat) "Are there people still afraid of ghosts?"
 * In another bit he told a story about going to a restaurant.. "I go to a restaurant to order some food, and I said to the guy I would like to have.. and before I could finish my sentence he said The Chicken! I could not believe it, (Beat) this man was absolutely right, how did he know I was gonna get some chicken?"

Video Games

 * In Mad's spoof of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, CJ shoots up a gay wedding in a drive-by, but explains to Kendl that he's only killing them because they're white.
 * So... Isn't that more like "Discriminate And Discriminate"?
 * It still fits, because he attacked them for a different reason than Kendl (and the audience) would have assumed.

Web Comics

 * In Khaos Komix, Charlie's mother runs into Charlie and Tom out in town as Charlie, in a dress was getting her ears pierced. Her mother berates her about how she "Thought she'd brought him up right" and she "knew who influenced her into it". Turns out she freaked out about Charlie getting piercings. Women's clothes? Fine and dandy. Except couldn't she think of anything less stereotyped?
 * Played for Drama in Venus Envy when goes after Zoe because of "what she is"...which turns out to be a class thing. She doesn't know.
 * Appeared in Dork Tower when Perky Goth Gilly goes to London, shown here.
 * Played with in The Pig's Ear. When Barkeep is looking for some hired help, a couple of the rejected applicants assume they didn't get the job because of their race, even though poor Barkeep was thinking of something completely different (like the black guy with a pair of hooks instead of hands).
 * In NSFW Comix, Becky thinks Grant, Psymantha and Spatula have been driven to see a psychiatrist because they found out  Later on they assure her that   wasn't the cause of their distress: It was walking in on her
 * In the Mega Crossover Fanficcomic Roommates 2007 after Mrs. Norrington and Sarah find Valjean resting an unconscious Javert's head in his lap, the former comments that the two of them seemed "so... you know... the f-word..." She means "French," of course.

Web Original

 * This trope is the basis for the successful black man meme.

Western Animation
""Do you know what those two are? Reporters! That's right Francine, members of the liberal media!""
 * American Dad:
 * When Francine kicks out a classmate of Steven's, they think it was because she was black, but it turned out to be because she was left-handed. She'd been taught by the nun that raised her that lefties were evil (even though she was one).
 * In another episode, Francine becomes a real estate agent Stan chastises her for selling her house to a gay couple. She is about to defend it but it turns out he doesn't like them because they are reporters. He doesn't even seem to know they are gay, he thinks they're just two bachelors who live together.

""There goes the neighborhood. Ha, ha, ha! Normally that would have racist implications, but I've actually done something far worse.""
 * In another episode, Stan has a classic line about this, after he abuses an anti-terrorism law to seize the house of any neighbor who doesn't like him:

"Brian: Where'd you get crack? Peter: From Blacks. Brian: What? Peter: Yeah, right behind Black's Hardware store. There's a white guy selling it."
 * The South Park season 5 episode "Here Comes the Neighborhood" where the town goes on a crusade against rich people, called "richers", all of whom happen to be black. It's subverted at the end, when all the rich people have left and some aesop was delivered, and Mr. Garrison says "Well, at least we got rid of all those damn ni-(cut off by end credits)".
 * Note that the episode had characters scaring off the rich people by setting fire to "Lower Case t's, for 'time to leave'". And that the rich people took these things (the burning lower case t's, etc) exactly the way they were meant. "'t'... 'time to leave'?"
 * Taking the joke even further all the townsfolk dress up as "ghosts" to scare away all the rich people. The rich people are indeed extremely frightened to discover that the town is "haunted".
 * And of course, to take things even further than that, the rich people organize a "Rich Pride" march and, upon passing by Chef, offer for him to join them. When he objects on the grounds that he's not rich, they offer him ten thousand dollars, which he readily accepts.
 * People who annoy you: N_GGERS. The answer is  of course. What else could it be?
 * There's also the episode where the town is divided over whether to change its flag, which depicts a lynching. The kids defend the flag, but they don't realize that it has anything to do with race; they just think violence is cool. This display of innocence moves the adults to tears.
 * In "Troq", the Fantastic Racism episode of Teen Titans, Starfire (the subject of said fantastic racism) asks black teammate Cyborg if he knew how it felt to be the subject of discrimination. The implied discrimination on account of being half machine, rather than being black. OK, Half- black, half machine.
 * Family Guy had Peter telling a crowd of black men at the Million Man March that they were responsible for most of the crime in the world, not aiming at them being black but men (he had temporarily become a Straw Feminist). They didn't really get it...
 * In an another episode, when Peter is doing crack:

"Malory: I am not [a bitch]! Why, because I don't want Sterling to end up with a woman like Lana Kane? My God...a black...ops field agent?!? Pam: Thought she was going in a whoooole other direction with that."
 * And in "Jerome is the New Black", Peter appears dressed in a Klan robe, in an attempt to drive out their unwanted (black) houseguest. Turns out he's trying to scare him by dressing up as a ghost.
 * One episode of King of the Hill had Dale's father, who turns out to be gay, try to come out of the closet to Dale, who thinks that his father is a real lady killer. After informing Dale that the rodeo he works at is a gay rodeo, and that the man he's friends with is his "partner", Dale explodes at him, uninviting him to his wedding, and telling him to get out. It certainly looks like Dale is incredibly homophobic, but as it turns out, he thinks his father just admitted to being a government agent. Turns out Dale's got nothing against gay people. After all, he's been friends with John Redcorn for years!
 * So, that's why he never suspected Redcorn of sleeping with his wife?
 * Another episode had Hank acting very angry and being off-put to a black man who'd arrived to fix his water heater, and Ladybird, picking up his hostility toward the stranger, attacked him. Everyone assumed Hank was racist, performing church songs in front of his house to "cure his intolerance," and Peggy got him to do some humiliating things to "learn to overcome." Eventually, when a new, white repairman came, Hank and Ladybird acted the same way- Hank just hates repairmen.
 * Archer:

"Shayera Hol (Hawkgirl): "You'd be wasting your time, anyway, I hear she's... yknow...Brazilian.""
 * In an episode of The Simpsons, Moe starts dating a "Little Person". Moe at one point claims to need to prepare a "car seat". Turns out he took out the passenger-side seat to save on petrol.
 * Homer: "There's something wrong with this place... wait a minute, this lesbian bar doesn't have a fire exit! Keep your death trap, ladies!"
 * The superheroes Fire and Ice in the DC Universe have been close friends and partners for the entirety of their tenure in comics. This has, over time, given rise to a lot of romantic/sexual subtext between them and corresponding theories in the fandom. When they were added to the expanded roster of Justice League Unlimited The Flash began to nurse a not-so-subtle crush on Fire and Hawkgirl tried to prod him into action as best she knew how.


 * Rocko's Modern Life: In the episode where Filbert (a turtle) and Hutch (a cat) get married, Hutch's mom repeatedly lectures her how cats and turtles are natural enemies and can never get along. In the end, it turns out she only thinks so because.
 * In one episode of Robot Chicken, Corey Feldman and Corey Haim travel to Brazil to save the Bush twins. They go into a bar and order a cola with two straws. The bartender tells them he doesn't serve their kind. They think he means Americans. He actually means anybody who's been on the cover of teen magazines.

Real Life

 * When Eric McCormack told his mother he would be playing a gay lawyer, she winced and said "Oh God... you're playing a lawyer?"
 * Inverted in Northern Ireland, where the people on the two ends of the religious and national conflict also support different football teams. Just stating that you support one of those teams will turn half the population hostile in your immediate vicinity.
 * Christopher Hitchens likes to tell about a friend who was stopped by a gang that demanded to know if he was Catholic or Protestant. After informing them he was an Atheist, they demanded to know if he was a Catholic Atheist or Protestant Atheist.
 * One particular news story has someone's quote as the title of the article preview, which said "I won't photograph ugly people." Only when you actually click the link to read the whole article that the person who said the quote means that she won't take pictures of bullies for the high school yearbook since she considers bullies as ugly people.