Everyone's favorite cartoon skunk (at least in the Furry world from which I hail) is a number-one news story these days. A lot of people are coming to the realization a male grabbing a female against her will...isn't funny at all, even when they're "only" cartoon animals. Young kids take cartoons seriously: the old Pepe cartoons told them not only is it okay to do that, it's what you're supposed to do when you become interested in girls.*
As much as I love Pepe myself (and I mean it—when I was in my single digits I had a crush on him; as a lonely kid I identified with someone who didn’t seem able to make friends...and I wished he was mine**) that "joke" is way past its sell-by date. I even commented on it back in a cartoon I drew back in the 90's:
It's time to move on, but without assigning Monsieur Le Pew to the dustbin of cartoon history: banning him from any future appearances and even taking his DVD off the market is just the wrong way to go; it’s just feeding the right-wing trolls shouting “cancel culture!” To show my support I bought a Pepe Le Pew T-shirt online yesterday (before they're banned too!) featuring the image up top of Pepe and his now-girlfriend Penelope in an affectionate pose.
It’s been decades since they last depicted lecherous grabby Pepe. (And other than toon-minded parents who own the DVD’s, kids will never see those vintage cartoons; they’ve long been replaced by contemporary ‘toons on the channels they watch.) In recent years Pepe’s been well behaved, charming even. There was a mobile phone commercial several years ago with Penelope painting the stripe on herself,*** her heart thumping in her chest cartoon-style when he calls - she digs him so much she wants to make herself more attractive to him! UPDATE: a friend found the commercial on YouTube (where else?) —
A few years ago they brought back Bugs Bunny and friends in the Seinfeld/Friends-style Looney Tunes Show. The very first episode features Pepe as Bugs and Lola's**** wedding planner (long story): "Your wedding is the most important day of your life — and I should know, I've been married eight times." It’s the perfect update for him: he's still a romantic idiot but without forcing himself on women.
I think it was a huge mistake for Warner Bros. to cut his scene out of Space Jam 2: The Search for More Money because it made exactly the point his old behavior is unacceptable these days. It could've been a "teaching moment" to kids (and grown-ups) in the audience. According to this article Pepe even mentions Penelope has taken out a restraining order against him!
Even though it's unlikely I hope WB changes their mind and put the scene back in the movie; Pepe should be "woke," not "cancelled."
---
* Joke from the old Barney Miller police sitcom: a man who's been arrested for grabbing women a la Pepe asks the detectives, "How come when a man does that in the movies, the woman resists at first and then gives in?" to which one replies, “because men make those movies."
** You can read about it on page 194 of my book Furry Nation.
*** In his old cartoons—in every one of them as a matter of fact—Pepe would mistake a cat who somehow wound up with a white stripe painted down her for a lady skunk and proceed to stalk/harass her.
**** Not the furry wet dream Space Jam Lola, or the post-mastectomy version in Space Jam 2, but as a won’t-shut-up airhead in love with Bugs (who doesn’t quite feel the same way towards her).