It is more than fair to say that a scandal erupted when children's TV host Soupy Sales asked his young viewers to send him "little green pieces of paper."

In January 1965 on his morning children’s show, Soupy Sales suggested to his young viewers that they find the wallets of their sleeping fathers and take out “some of those funny green pieces of paper with all those nice pictures of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Alexander Hamilton, and send them along to their old pal, Soupy, care of WNEW, New York."

Today, It may be hard to imagine that this prank could cause a scandal. Many people in the 21st century have grown up in the modern era of radio and television with its “shock jocks” and numerous programs involving hosts playing all sorts of bizarre (and sometimes outright cruel) pranks on unsuspecting participants. However, in 1965 an off-the-cuff joke on television by Soupy Sales touched off a huge scandal over what would today be seem as a simple harmless hoax (joke).

Complaints from outraged parents came fast and furious. The television station that hosted the show with Sales, WNEW-TV in New York, had to pull him off the air. But contrary to common belief, Sales was not fired over the stunt, nor was his show canceled. He resumed broadcasting two weeks later, and his program ran on WNEW for almost another two years. Because the show was aired live, no hard copy tape was made. A verbatim transcription of what Sales actually said never existed.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org