Age: 98
Occupation: movie studio
Last Seen: Burbank, CA
Bee-otched For: causing a stink
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This story stinks.
For centuries, the skunk has been nature's most-imperfect animal. When it feels like it's under attack, it releases that pungent stench that you and I know too well. We all hate hitting one on the road and we all hate it when our pets get sprayed by them. Not to mention that the scent of tomato juice is also not a pleasant scent, either.
Maybe it's one giant reason why Warner Bros. is now disowning their pet skunk.
It was announced a few days ago that the studio will not cast their beloved Pepe Le Pew Tune in the upcoming reboot of "Space Jam" with Lebron James. This was due mostly to a vile piece in the New York Times where writer Charles M. Blow talks about the so-called "rape culture" that he's promoted for decades.
Le Pew first appeared in 1945's "Odor-able Kitty" and appeared in 18 original Looney Tunes cartoons. His 1949 short "For Scent-imental Reasons" won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Basically, Le Pew's movies seemed to have the same premise: a poor little female cat accidentally gets a black stripe of paint on her back and out comes Pepe wanting to make sweet French love to her as she is beyond appalled.
Now, for decades, the battle between a stinky French skunk and an innocent cat made for some good laughs at both the cinema - where they were originally seen - and on TV. However, during the #metoo movement and cancel culture, leave it up to a Blow, a bisexual man, to tell us all that Pepe needs to be canceled along with Bosko and Speedy Gonzales.
Pepe Le Pew was created by Chuck Jones (1912-2002), one of Warner's greatest animators. He also created Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner, Michigan J. Frog and directed many shorts starring Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. He also helped to reboot the Tom and Jerry series for MGM in the 60s. Jones' 83-year-old daughter, Linda responded to the accusations of Pepe's "rape culture" as pure bullshit. She told TMZ that Pepe never raped another character in his movies and that she totally disagrees with Blow's op-ed. She does agree, however, that it's up to WB if they want to ax Pepe or not because it's their character and their decision on how they want to use (or not use) him.
It's a known fact that a lot of what happened during the Golden Age of Animation is not acceptable to today's standards. Virtually every animator in Hollywood, whether it's Jones, Disney, Lantz, Fleischer or Hanna and Barbera, produced shorts that would be canceled out today. Personally, I think Blow is no true expert on old school animation. Look at Bugs Bunny. Should be cancel him out? After all, he is in the new Space Jam movie. Tom and Jerry was owned by a fat black woman named "Mammy Two Shoes" and they were in the #1 movie from two weeks ago. Look at other cartoon characters. Popeye once threw balls at a black man (skip to 3:55). Mickey Mouse wore blackface. Hell, even Fat Albert had its problems, Cosby being a rapist or not. Many of the black characters on the show - including Dumb Donald - were voiced by the show's white producer, Lou Scheimer and his family to keep costs down.
In all, if Warner Bros. wants to cancel Pepe Le Pew, they need to cancel everybody it seems (and BTW, they own the 1933-57 Popeye shorts). But, the real decider in all this is you, the consumer. If you don't like it, don't buy it. The corporate media canceled out Morgan Wallen, but his latest album is STILL #1 on the Billboard 200, n-word or not. Not to mention the fact that I don't hear outrage from the African American community over what Wallen did.
At the end of the day, it's sad that WB is telling us that Pepe is bad all because of one man's opinion. Bear in mind that rape culture was alive and well in 1945, long before women went to EDM festivals wearing thongs. If people didn't like Pepe back then, they wouldn't have made another film.
I think some people need to have tomato juice thrown on them.
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