Pepé Le Pew was cut from the ‘Space Jam’ sequel

Twenty-five years after starring alongside Michael Jordan in the original Space Jam, the Looney Tunes are getting ready to get in on the action and take the field with LeBron James in the sequel, Space Jam: a new legacy. But a familiar character will remain in the dressing room: sources from Warner Bros. said the cartoon’s loving skunk, Pepé Le Pew, will not be featured in the next film, which is due to open in theaters and HBO Max on July 16. In fact, the controversial character – who made his first appearance in 1945 – appears to be definitely retired from the Looney Tunes canon. According The Hollywood Reporter, the studio has no plans to present Pepé in any other feature film or in the new Looney Tunes cartoon series currently broadcast on HBO Max.

Interestingly, the skunk was rubbed from the Space Jam sequel for over a year. But the news is surfacing amid a continuing reckoning with the pop culture of the past, including recent announcements that Disney + has placed content warnings on selected episodes of The Muppet Showand Dr. Seuss Enterprises ceasing publication of six of the late author’s books. Both decisions infuriated conservative critics, who saw them as examples of “canceling uncontrolled culture”.

In a March 3 column praising the Seuss estate for its decision, New York Times Opinion writer Charles M. Blow listed Pepé Le Pew among a trio of animated characters from his childhood – including fellow Looney Tune Speedy Gonzalez and Tom and JerryMammy Two Shoes – that has aged badly. Blow specifically criticized Pepé for “normalizing the culture of rape” for his lively vintage antics, which involved him relentlessly chasing a black cat, Penelope Pussycat, who he repeatedly mistook for a skunk companion. The writer later continued his argument on Twitter, citing several examples of Looney Tunes cartoons. “It helped to teach the boys that ‘no’ didn’t really mean no,” wrote Blow.

The story continues

According Deadline, the decision to cut Pepé from New Legacy team was formed in 2019 after Roll Bounce director Malcolm D. Lee replaced the original pilot, Terence Nance. Nance filmed a comic Casablanca tribute that would have put the cartoon skunk in the same frame as Jane the Virgin star, Greice Santo. In the excluded sequence, Pepé played the role of a bartender who looked at Santo’s client. But when he tries to make his move, she teaches him good manners, spilling his drink on his head and giving him a silly slap. At this point, James and Bugs appear hoping that Pepé can tell them where to find Lola Bunny. After providing the information, he reveals that Penelope has filed a restraining order, and James specifically tells him that he is not allowed to grab her, or any other woman, without his consent. When Lee took over the film, that scene was removed without the animation being completed.

Santo apparently found that the sequence was deleted at the same time as the rest of the world. In a statement provided to Deadline, a spokesman for the singer and actress indicated that Santo was disappointed with the decision, since the scene ends up presenting her giving a lesson in Pepé. “It was a big deal for Greice to be in this film,” said the spokesman. “Even though Pepé is a cartoon character, if someone were to slap a sexual stalker like him, Greice would like it to be her. Now the scene is cut, and it doesn’t have that power to influence the world through the younger generations that will be watching Space Jam 2, so that younger girls and boys know that Pepé’s behavior is unacceptable. “

Reaction to the filmmakers’ decision to remove Pepé from Space Jam the sequence is split equally on Twitter, with some defending the character while others are happy to see him stay in the history books.

Space Jam: a new legacy opens on July 16 in theaters and on HBO Max.

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