Warner Bros. will not include Pepé Le Pew in any of its future projects amid leftist claims that the popular Looney Toons character “normalized rape culture.”
The news, first reported by the Hollywood Reporter, follows Warner Bros. cutting the French skunk’s appearance from the upcoming movie Space Jam: A New Legacy. The cut scene reportedly served as a “spoof of the 1942 classic Casablanca that features Pepe in the role of a bartender” who flirts with a woman, though he ultimately takes it too far, prompting her to slap him, according to Screenrant:
Later on, Pepe admits that Penelope Pussycat has filed a restraining order against him, to which LeBron James reprimands him about touching others without their consent. Santo publicly expressed her disappointment with the scene being cut since she believed it had the power to teach young viewers that Pepe’s behavior is unacceptable.
Charles Blow, a left-wing columnist for the New York Times, made waves last week after attacking the Looney Tunes character specifically, accusing him of “normalizing rape culture.”
“Some of the first cartoons I can remember included Pepé Le Pew, who normalized rape culture; Speedy Gonzales, whose friends helped popularize the corrosive stereotype of the drunk and lethargic Mexicans; and Mammy Two Shoes, a heavyset Black maid who spoke in a heavy accent,” Blow wrote in a piece titled “Six Seuss Books Bore a Bias.” He later doubled down on his position on the fictional skunk.
RW blogs are mad bc I said Pepe Le Pew added to rape culture. Let’s see.
1. He grabs/kisses a girl/stranger, repeatedly, w/o consent and against her will.
2. She struggles mightily to get away from him, but he won’t release her
3. He locks a door to prevent her from escaping. pic.twitter.com/CbLCldLwvR— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) March 6, 2021
However, according to Deadline, the decision to cut Pepé Le Pew from the sequel had “nothing to do with the recent remarks made by the New York Times’ Blow.”
The daughter of the character’s creator reportedly told TMZ that she “strongly disagrees with the notion the suave skunk contributed to rape culture, as suggested in an NYT op-ed.”
Nevertheless, comedian and actor Gabriel Iglesias, who voices Speedy Gonzales in the upcoming Space Jam sequel, addressed the cancel culture mob in a cheeky tweet over the weekend, daring them to catch him.
“I am the voice of Speedy Gonzales in the new Space Jam. Does this mean they are gonna try to cancel Fluffy too?” the stand-up comic asked. “U can’t catch me cancel culture. I’m the fastest mouse in all of Mexico.”
I am the voice of Speedy Gonzales in the new Space Jam. Does this mean they are gonna try to cancel Fluffy too? U can’t catch me cancel culture. I’m the fastest mouse in all of Mexico 💨 pic.twitter.com/Ov4wjO00kM
— G a b r i e l – I g l e s i a s (@fluffyguy) March 7, 2021
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