Jim Parson's new movie Spoiler Alert might be about to hit theaters, but the actor is still most well known as Sheldon Cooper, one of the most famous sitcom characters. After becoming the obvious breakout character in The Big Bang Theory, he spawned his sitcom with Young Sheldon, chronicling his childhood. However, this does not mean he is universally beloved.
Many people during the show's run got tired of The Big Bang Theory, some of that coming down to Sheldon himself. While many had their reasons, some Redditors pointed out that Sheldon was involved in some of the show's most cringe-worthy scenes and moments.
When He Left Raj In The Boiler Room
Season 8, Episode 6: "The Expedition Approximation"
Sheldon is not always the best friend, as shown by his treatment of Raj when they are in the boiler room. "Sheldon leaving Raj in the boiler room with the rats pi**es me off," said Reddit user Goodboi_8606 as a moment that he no longer finds funny from the show.
Sheldon running made sense, as rats are not things anyone wants to run into. However, not telling Raj that the rats were there and then closing the door is not cool. Raj was frightened when he saw the rats too. However, this did not occur to Sheldon, who only had a fight or flight response to seeing them. It was a truly awful thing to do to a friend.
When Penny Brought A Sandwich
Season 11, Episode 19: "The Tenant Disassociation"
There is no problem with wanting to eat food on certain days. However, telling people they can not eat certain things is problematic, which ElCaptin2020 pointed out. Mentioning Sheldon's disapproval of Penny eating a sandwich, they say, "I get it - Sheldon likes to eat certain foods on a certain day, cool. But dictating to Penny she has to eat the same food was just megalomaniac behavior."
Penny was aware of Sheldon's quirks by this point of the show, but she is still her own woman who can make her own choices. Sheldon does not have the right to say whether she can eat something or not, and his acting like he does would be an issue with a lot of people. Granted, Sheldon does a lot of things that make no sense.
When Leonard Didn't Want To Watch Rent
Season 1, Episode 10: "The Loobenfeld Decay"
A now-deleted Reddit user pointed to an episode where Sheldon and Leonard make up a relative to avoid seeing Penny act, with Sheldon making the plan go way overboard as a particularly cringe-worthy episode. In it, Sheldon invents a fake cousin who stays at their apartment. "I skip it every time," the Redditor said.
Granted, Sheldon wanted to be upfront and say he did not like her singing, even calling out Leonard for his behavior on not wanting to hurt her feelings. But still, he was involved and made it way more complicated than needed to be. While not his worst moment, it does still show his lack of social awareness, to a certain extent.
When He Argued About A Dining Room Table
Season 7, Episode 16: "The Table Polarization"
One of the most cringe worthy TBBT episodes, in general, is when Sheldon does not want a particular table. He argued, and then everyone just caved. They decide that this is not a fight worth having and Sheldon ends up getting his way. "Sometimes the baby wins. That episode. Ugh," said Reddit user Wekris91.
What makes this worse is how Sheldon knows that he is in the wrong. But he knew that if he complained enough, his friends would end up caving to his demands. While there are some episodes where he is oblivious to everything, this is not one of them. He was just acting like a child to get his way and sadly, it worked.
The Birthday Speeches
Season 9, Episode 16: "The Celebration Experiment"
Reddit user farmerdn said one of the most cringe-worthy moments was in Sheldon's birthday episode where "they took turns saying nice things to him." The episode notably showed Sheldon being cruel to Howard, but sweet to other characters, such as Wil Wheaton and Bernadette, who barely said anything.
This was not the worst Sheldon moment. He does try to show some appreciation towards his peers, but his selfishness still shines through. His cruelty towards Howard was unnecessary, especially compared to his behavior towards other characters, but he did not act horribly by his standards here.
When He Showed Alex Pictures Of STDs
Season 6, Episode 12: "The Egg Salad Equivalency"
Sheldon is not always good with social cues and sometimes handles things the wrong way, as shown when he thinks he's helping by showing Alex pictures of STDs, a moment Reddit user Kmkmrod put among their most cringe-worthy. "When Sheldon showed Alex diseased genitalia," they said.
Alex is cringing alongside the audience because not only would the images have been quite graphic, but Sheldon presented them at a point where he was also lecturing Alex about her supposedly inappropriate behavior. This, coupled with the line in which he quotes his father ("a woman is like an egg salad sandwich on a warm Texas day"), and the whole incident is just inappropriate and hard to watch for fans.
When He Made A Contract For Penny And Leonard
Season 10, Episode 13: "The Romance Recalibration"
Reddit user throw_havingdoubts said, "The episode where Penny complains about the lack of effort Leonard puts into their relationship and Sheldon ends up making a contract for them," is the episode that bothers them the most. Sheldon also has an agreement made with Amy, influencing them to let him make one for them.
There were times when Amy and Sheldon were couple goals, but still, why would anyone go to Sheldon for relationship help? Even in the later episodes, he is not exactly a romantic expert. This was not his fault, but it is still weird to see people get to the point where they go to him to write a relationship agreement.
When Penny Gives Sheldon & Amy Alternative Ideas For D&D
Season 6, Episode 23: "The Love Spell Potential"
A very drunk Penny made Amy and Sheldon's Dungeons and Dragon's pieces look like they were having sex in season 6. That was a cringy moment for user Dalanard. "The cringe is strong when they play D&D and Penny tells Sheldon and Amy to have sex in the game."
This was not Sheldon's fault, but both he and Amy were uncomfortable. Seeing someone make their friends that uncomfortable is always going to be hard to watch, and this is no exception.
When He Made Leonard Wear The Itchy Sweater
Season 7, Episode 8: "The Itchy Brain Simulation"
Reddit user WrongAssumption2480 said, "Making Leonard wear the itchy sweater when he didn’t take the rental video back," was the worst thing Sheldon ever did. Leonard was not in the best headspace in this episode, and Sheldon was just adding insult to injury. Another reason he did it was so Leonard knew what a real itch felt like.
It is quite a cruel thing to do to a friend. Putting a friend through physical pain is never a good thing and Sheldon doing this to his best friend was inappropriate and the focus of the whole episode. It is one of those things that just goes past funny and into Sheldon just being a bad person. Memes have summed up Sheldon as a manchild, and this is just one example.
When He Cost His Friends Thousands Of Dollars In Bitcoin
Season 11, Episode 9: "The Bitcoin Entanglement"
Sheldon cost his friends thousands of dollars shifting all his friend's bitcoin to another hard drive that got lost. Reddit user AbbreviationsAway500 says that episode still makes them cringe. "Sheldon was so smug, arrogant and condescending throughout the episode making his friends go around on an unnecessary hunt looking for data that he has stolen from the computer and placed it on Leonard's flash drive."
Stewart was the one who stole the flash drive, but the bitcoin should not have been there, to begin with. In addition, he shifted blame to make it a lesson for everyone, which is probably the worst part. He was the only one who had blame in this situation, yet he blamed others anyway.