The 1940 classic cartoon Tom and Jerry now comes with a warning label from Amazon Prime Instant Video because of its alleged ethnic and racial stereotyping.
The online subscription service has declared that the series may be harmful to children because of its character depiction, but surprisingly not the comedic fights that take place between the two main characters.
“Tom and Jerry shorts may depict some ethnic and racial prejudices that were once commonplace in American society. Such depictions were wrong then and are wrong today,” the disclaimer reads.
The subscription service failed to mention specifics, but one of the characters in question is said to be “Mammy Two Shoes.” She is a black housemaid whose presence is reportedly accompanied by “traditional plantation” music.
Additionally, characters that dress up in “black face” or as “natives,” and the ones who wear grass skirts with bones in their hair, might not be politically correct either.
Warner Brothers, who owns the rights to the seven-time Academy Award winning series, issued this statement:
“While the following does not represent the Warner Bros’ views of today’s society, these cartoons are being presented as they were originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming that these prejudices never existed,” the studio said.
Brazil and several other countries have censored “Mammy Two Shoes” references and even replaced her character with a maid who is thin and white.
People in the Twittersphere are struggling to grasp how the Tom and Jerry they have grown to love is now being labeled as racist.
Old Tom and Jerry cartoons to carry warnings of ‘racial prejudice’. Give me strength. I am a foreigner in a culture I no longer understand.
— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) October 1, 2014
Wow there are actually some people who consider the racial prejudice warning Amazon added to the Tom and Jerry cartoons “PC gone mad”
— BAJA BLASTOISE (@grandpadesu) October 1, 2014
I read that Amazon Prime is warning viewers that Tom and Jerry cartoons are racist, and now I’m confused because I thought they were animals
— Rock (@TheMichaelRock) October 1, 2014
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