Classic cartoons are filled with characters dropping grand pianos on each other, whapping each other on the heads with frying pans, exploding trains, and cars with TN. Yet, somehow, the ills of society today rarely involve death by a felled grand piano or flattening with a frying pan. In those cartoons, Wile E. Coyote recovered from his own TNT disaster and revived in the next frame to chase the Roadrunner again. 

Enter the 21st century and the world of live action movies, where these classic cartoons come to life – Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Dumbo, Jungle Book, Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland, just to name a few. Where Disney left off, Warner Brothers Pictures is picking up with Space Jam: A New Legacy (in theatres July 16, 20210) and bringing our favorite Looney Tunes characters to life on the big screen — well, most of them. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Marvin the Martian, Tweety, Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Lola Bunny, and Speedy Gonzales will be there, but Pepe le Pew will be left in the proverbial dust of indecency. 

This is because New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow determined that Pepe le Pew, a cartoon character who was removed, added to rape culture. Penelope Pussycat is constantly in his clutches and struggles mightily to get away from him. He never takes no for an answer. He advances again and again to no avail. Warner Brothers had no comment on Blow’s tweet about Pepe. Evidently, there was initially a scene with Pepe in the movie and it was left on the cutting room floor. The scene is rumored to be of Pepe in a bar and he hits on a woman in the bar countless times. He does his signature Pepe move and kisses her arm to which she responds by slapping him and throwing her drink on him. He is then told he has a restraining order against him by Penelope Pussycat and told that he cannot grab other Tunes at will and without their permission. This cut, considering that it covers such a heavy and sensitive subject, that the scene takes place in a bar, and that it’s supposed to be in a kid’s show, was most certainly for the best. Pepe le Pew, as many agree, does not belong in a children’s cartoon, even if reprimanded for his behavior. 

However, not all Warner Brothers changes are necessarily good changes, and there has been one in particular that caused much controversy, perceived by some as a type of radical censorship: Elmer Fudd, the perpetual hunter of Bugs Bunny, the wascally wabbit, is currently seen without his trusty rifle. This was because he was accused of promoting gun violence by some people. But if he is indeed a hunter, with what is he to hunt if not with a weapon of some sort? Some people ask what’s next to come with inevitable future changes. 

While some decision are viewed as not only entirely reasonable, but responsible, and others are viewed to be bordering on censorship and extremism, everyone can clearly see changes being made in cartoon and animation revivals. As more changes are being made, audiences will get to watch the effects unfurl.