Arguably the most famous mouse on the planet, Mickey Mouse has it all. In his decades long career he’s starred in countless movies and TV shows, dated some of Hollywood’s most sought after mice girls, appeared in comic books, video games, theme parks and on red carpets, and touched the hearts and souls of children and adults around the world.

Mouse has suffered his fair share of controversy. In the mid 1930s a German newspaper attacked Mouse for being a bad role model. The article read,

“Mickey Mouse is the most miserable ideal ever revealed… Healthy emotions tell every independent young man and every honorable youth that the dirty and filth-covered vermin, the greatest bacteria carrier in the animal kingdom, cannot be the ideal type of animal… Away with Jewish brutalization of the people! Down with Mickey Mouse! Wear the Swastika Cross!”

Similar accusations were put forth in 2008, when Sheikh Muhammad Al-Munajhid, a lecturer, TV, and radio host in Saudi Arabia, questioned whether human children should look up to a mouse, which he said the sacred law of Islam considers to be a harmful vermin. Al-Munajhid issued a fatwa against Mouse. The popular creature never commented publicly about the controversy.

In Italy, Mouse and his Disney colleagues were the last foreign children’s heroes to be banned during the Second World War, allegedly because Mussolini’s children were especially fond of Mouse and his antics. Only when the US formally joined the war in 1942 Italian authorities banned and confiscated comics featuring Mouse.

Perhaps the biggest controversy came in 1971, when photos showing Mouse and his longtime partner Minnie Mouse engaging in various sexual acts were released, shocking the general public. Mouse sued, but remained mum to the media.

His iconic ears, yellow shoes, red pants and squeaky voice inspired, terrorized and delighted three generations of kids. And at age 82, Mouse is still as young and agile as he was when he first graced the screen in 1928.