James LaRue, the director of American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, thinks that the controversy surrounding the Harper Lee classic has to do with its strong language, content that portrays "sexuality and rape," and "the use of the n-word" (via History). In what he thinks is a flimsy further argument, the book has also come under fire by The Biloxi School Board for simply making people uneasy. LaRue, speaking to History, said, "The whole point to classics is they challenge the way we think about things."

The most recent episode of banning happened in the Burbank California Unified School District, when the book was pulled from the schools' programs because parents complained about its racist language, according to Marshall University. 

In a 2017 incident, the book — whose audio version was narrated by Reese Witherspoon – came under fire by a mother who was worried the use of the n-word would adversely impact her daughter. This happened in Biloxi, Mississippi; the book was banned from the 8th-grade syllabus but was later added back into the program, with the condition that it could be read under parental supervision, per Banned Books.