The seemingly all-powerful cancel culture has successfully terminated a cartoon character.
We’re not just talking about any cartoon character, however. The animated personality that was eliminated from LeBron James’ upcoming Space Jam: A New Legacy is none other than Pepé Le Pew, the love-struck skunk from the Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes heyday.
On the surface, many believe this is overreaching and a case of political correctness on steroids to banish a cartoon character. But take a look at the justification from a New York Times reporter and commentary from comedic superstar Dave Chappelle. Both believe that Pepé promotes rape culture by repeatedly grabbing his love interest, holding her against her will and trying to kiss her despite her obvious objections.
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
Chapelle, one of the nation’s premier jokesters, admitted that he used to watch Pepé Le Pew as a child and found him funny and endearing. But as an adult, Chappelle says “what kind of f—ing rapist is this guy?”
I remembered when Dave Chappelle talked about Pepe Le Pew pic.twitter.com/ey3LoYSbV6
— CODE (@handsomeHDII) March 8, 2021
Le Pew was going to appear in a scene reminiscent of the episode from Casablanca where Pepé would play a bartender and attempt to kiss the arm of a human character, portrayed by actress Greice Santo. Santo smacks Pepé with tremendous force, and James swoops in to let Pepé know that it is not cool to make physical advances on a woman without her consent.
According to Deadline, the scene was removed during the final cut of the film. Screen Rant states that Pepé Le Pew will not appear in future Warner Bros. projects.
The live-action film, produced by James and Black Panther’s Ryan Coogler, will be released in theaters this summer. It features NBA stars Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, Chris Paul and Damian Lillard.
sorry for getting socialistically PC but personally i think its ok to remove the children's cartoon whose entire comedic bit is forcing himself on women pic.twitter.com/XnJtMRVOWa
— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) March 8, 2021
