How Pepe Le Pew became the latest character in the culture war

Ted Geisel and Chuck Jones, the late friends turned creative collaborators during World War II and again many years later for such TV classics as 1966’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, ” are again under cultural scrutiny. After the news that six of Geisel’s Dr. Seuss books would cease publication because of racist and insensitive imagery, Jones’s Pepe Le Pew has brought Looney Tunes into the culture war over which classic children’s characters are so problematic that they should be updated or disappeared. The Seuss announcement came last Tuesday on the anniversary of Geisel’s birthday (though the decision was made last year). That controversy prompted New York Times columnist Charles Blow to write a piece headlined, “Six Seuss Books Bore a Bias. ” The column noted that some of the first cartoon characters Blow remembers seeing while young are Pepe Le Pew, who “normalized rape culture, ” and Speedy Gonzales, whose friends “helped popularize the corrosive stereotype of the drunk and lethargic Mexicans. ”The Pepe reference resonated like a callback to a classic bit from Dave Chappelle’s 2000 standup special, “Killin’ Them Softly, ” in which the comedian says that Pepe, whom he laughed at as a kid, later through an adult lens makes him realize: “What kind of … rapist is this guy? ”Over the weekend, Pepe’s name resurfaced when Deadline reported that the lecherously predatory skunk won’t appear in the sequel “Space Jam: A New Legacy” due out in July, after a scene involving Pepe — shot by the film’s first director, Terence Nance — was cut. Director Malcolm D. Lee took over the movie nearly two years ago. Deadline reported that Pepe Le Pew will “likely be a thing of the past across all media, ” and the Hollywood Reporter also noted that “there are no current plans for the controversial cartoon skunk to return. ” (The Washington Post reached out to Warner Bros. for comment but has not yet been provided with one. )On Deadspin, Julie DiCaro said Pepe Le Pew deserved to be “canceled, ” writing that since his World War II-era creation, “we’ve learned a lot more about consent and women have fought and won more recognition of their bodily autonomy. And yet, we continued to see these same old ‘she’s just playing hard to get’ trope[s] in entertainment even today. ”Elsewhere, Rex Murphy of the National Post wrote a “letter” to Blow, saying: “What’s next, I wonder. A hit job on Marge Simpson? I wouldn’t be surprised. ”Gabriel Iglesias tweeted: “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, ” a term used to refer to this form of scrutiny and ostracism. The examples keep stacking up: Disney Plus recently removed such films as “Peter Pan” and “Dumbo” from its set of titles designated for children’s viewership profiles, because of stereotypes and racist depictions. Some golden-age Warner Bros. characters have changed in recent years in response to changing times.