Ohio rejected 759 license plates in 2022

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) - Ohio rejected over 700 custom license plates applications in 2022 for offensive, sexual and occasionally humorous messages that car owners wanted.

NBC4 received an internal list of the custom license plate requests from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles via a public records request. The state also launched a redesign of its license plates beginning Dec. 29, 2021, giving a new background for a swath of obscene phrases.

Like the state's list of previously rejected plates from 2021, vanity license plates targeting the president of the United States appeared again throughout the year. Among them were "FBIDN," "FKBYDEN," "F J B DN," "F*** JOE" and "EFUJOE."

The 2021 license plates referencing derogatory remarks against President Joe Biden grew in popularity after a NASCAR race interview in 2021. While license applications again tried to make light of the chant against him in 2022 -- including with terms as simple as "FJB 6" -- they amounted to a much smaller group than the 48 submitted in 2021.

Alongside targeting Biden, previous years have seen rejections related to the current events of their time. 2020 custom Ohio license plate submissions included "F U COVID," and "F CAROL B," a reference to Carol Baskin from the Netflix show "Tiger King."

Like previous years, many of the 2022 rejected plates included an expletive, either against someone or a concept, like"FKPTSD," as an add-on like in "SALTY AF," or used in sexual innuendos. With a total of 759 denied, the 2022 rejection list surpassed the 462 rejections in 2020 but fell short of the 827 blocked plates from 2021.

BMV spokeswoman Lindsey Bohrer previously told NBC4 that Ohio has rules banning profane, obscene and sexual language on license plates, as well as phrases that could incite violence or lawlessness like "MURD3R."

A more innocent selection of rejected plates included "N3RD AFK," -- which stands for "away from keyboard" -- "LATE AF," "IH8OHIO," or "HOWDY HO," a reference to "South Park" character Mr. Hankey's signature saying. The list also included some childish phrases like "GO POOH," and "POO BUTT."

To view the full 2022 list of Ohio's rejected license plates, click here. Viewer discretion is advised.

The bureau's online portal also has a section to check for custom plate availability, and generates a preview of what the tag will look like. However, it also automatically blocks phrases similar to and exactly like the ones found on the rejection list for 2022.