by Debra Heine
The Looney Toons skunk Pepe Le Pew is the latest fictional character to fall victim to cancel culture warriors. The comically lecherous Le Pew was axed from Warner Brothers’ new “Space Jam” movie after being called out in the media for perpetuating “rape culture.”
The popular toon has reportedly had his scene cut from “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” the sequel to the film he was a part of in 1997.
The hybrid live-action animation scene was shot in June 2019 and featured both Le Pew and actress Greice Santo, according to Deadline.
Pepe was set to appear in a black-and-white Casablanca-like Rick’s Cafe sequence. Pepe, playing a bartender, starts hitting on a woman at the bar played by Santo. He begins kissing her arm, which she pulls back, then slamming Pepe into the chair next to hers. She then pours her drink on Pepe, and slaps him hard, sending him spinning in a stool, which is then stopped by LeBron James’ hand. James and Bugs Bunny are looking for Lola, and Pepe knows her whereabouts. Pepe then tells the guys that Penelope cat has filed a restraining order against him. James makes a remark in the script that Pepe can’t grab other Tunes without their consent.
Santo was reportedly upset when she learned that her scene with Pepe Le Pew was cut because she believed “the skunk finally gets his comeuppance.”
“This was such a big deal for Greice to be in this movie,” A spokesperson for Santo said. “Even though Pepe is a cartoon character, if anyone was going to slap a sexual harasser like him, Greice wished it would be her. Now the scene is cut, and she doesn’t have that power to influence the world through younger generations who’ll be watching Space Jam 2, to let younger girls and younger boys know that Pepe’s behavior is unacceptable.”
New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow accused Pepe Le Pew of “adding to rape culture” in a couple of tweets on March 6. Blow argued that the cartoon skunk—who was never intended to be thought of as anything other than an unacceptable lecher—taught boys “that no, really didn’t mean no.”
This helped teach boys that “no” didn’t really mean no, that it was a part of “the game”, the starting line of a power struggle. It taught overcoming a woman’s strenuous, even physical objections, was normal, adorable, funny. They didn’t even give the woman the ability to SPEAK.
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) March 6, 2021
According to Deadline, Pepe’s removal from Space Jam had nothing to do with the columnist’s remarks.
Blow also recently took aim at Dr. Seuss, arguing in a March 3 op-ed that racism is deeply embedded into American culture and children are exposed to it at a young age. Earlier this month, Seuss Enterprises decided to cease publication and sales of six Dr. Seuss books over alleged “racist” and “insensitive” imagery.
Pepe Le Pew isn’t the only Looney Tunes character that has been censored by our woke overlords. According to IGN, “old Looney Tunes episodes on HBO Max do not feature Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, or any other character carrying a gun.”
In addition to the Dr. Seuss books and Looney Toons crew, even the Muppets are being censored by the hypersensitive left.
Disney has decided that “The Muppet Show” — featuring Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear and Miss Piggy — contains “offensive content” and can now be seen only on an adult account.
When viewers open the streaming service, which made five series available last Friday, viewers are greeted with the disclaimer: “This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now,” the Daily Mail reported.
Next on the chopping block appears to be the beloved Berenstain Bears for depicting families as wholesome, traditional, and functional units.
Oh, hello, #GenderBias creeping its way into my 4-year-old cousin's brain! THIS IS HOSTILE. It needs to go. #CancelBerenstain pic.twitter.com/T3c5wsozHU
— Leslie Decker 🌊🧜🏻♀️ (@LeslieD38009274) March 4, 2021
– – –
Debra Heine reports for American Greatness.
Pepe Le Pew was “over the top”, and exaggeration. That’s what made him “funny”. (I’ll point out that most Leftists I know only find humorous destroying their “enemies”.) If there is anything “unacceptable” about him, it should be is his outdated portrayal of *French Men*.
Likewise, the scene that was cut was also an exaggeration, but if that description is true, it should have been left in.
If you’re getting your morality from cartoon characters, though…