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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The state of Missouri rejected nearly 400 requests for personalized license plates in 2024.
According to the Missouri Department of Revenue, the plates were rejected on the grounds of being obscene or profane, violating RSMo 301.144.3 and 12 C.S.R 10-23.185.
Profanity is strictly prohibited, and combinations of letters and numbers designed to look like profanity are also not allowed. Missouri’s regulations also advise against personalized license plates that are contemptuous of racial or ethnic groups or would pose an unreasonable danger to public safety.
To acquire a personalized license plate in Missouri, also known as vanity plate, one must complete and submit an application form, pay an application fee, and pay a $15 annual fee to renew the plates if approved.
FOX 2 recently filed an open records request to obtain a full list of rejected license plates in Missouri last year. There were 379 in total.
DISCLAIMER: Viewer discretion is advised for the remainder of this story. The following is for mature audiences and may contain potentially strong or inappropriate language. FOX 2 has modified some parts of requested plates in a list provided below with an asterisk.
A summary
There were 14 rejected license plates that appeared to be going for some variation of the expression “Hawk Tuah,” part of a viral Internet meme in the middle of the year. The earliest of these requests came on July 3, 2024, with applicants seeking plates such as “HWK2A,” “HWK2UA” and “HWKTWA.”
These were a few with fairly obvious translations of terms or phrases that pushed boundaries:
- MURDR (Application date: 1/8/2024)
- OHFUDG (1/19/2024)
- B3AV3R (1/19/2024)
- LSD100 (2/8/2024)
- P0ACHR (3/13/2024)
- G0TP00 (3/13/2024)
- BUMPNN (3/13/2024)
- S4LTYB (3/13/2024)
- SPANKT (3/18/2024)
- 4SSMAN (4/25/2024)
- MTBALZ (4/30/2024)
- MDLFGR (8/14/2024)
- BADDAZ (9/16/204)
There were dozens of license plates that used some variation of a well-known four-letter curse word, some requesting plates that possibly aimed to send messages about 401Ks (*401K), taxes (F*TAXS) and Mizzou’s rival Kansas University (F***KU). Several attempts to connect that same curse word with 46th U.S. President Joe Biden were also rejected.
The List
For a full list of rejected license plates in Missouri, click here.
