More than a few eyebrows were raised when it was recently revealed that Warner Bros. decided to leave Pepe Le Pew, the famously amorous skunk from Looney Tunes, out of this summer’s Space Jam 2: A New Legacy. Warner felt La Pew’s relentless sexual advances were problematic in a post a MeToo world. While he may have merely been an overaggressive, misunderstood chap in 1945 (when he as created), he was a cultural faux pas in 2021. So they cut him from the Space Jam lineup.
As you can expect, this erupted into plenty of name calling and screech raging online. Warner’s decision came amidst several other high profile political arguments and Le Pew’s exclusion was seen as another shot in the endless cancel culture wars.
But Warner missed an opportunity with Le Pew. In the scene that was cut (or more accurately never completed) Pepe was constantly harassing actress and singer Greice Santo in a bar. Santo politely refused Le Pew’s advances but when the infamously pushy skunk ignored her and cranked his advances up a notch or three, she slapped him into next week. Following his smackdown, the film’s live action star Lebron James informed Le Pew that he can’t grab anyone without their consent. This scene also apparently revealed that Penelope the Cat, the victim of Le Pew’s constant attention in the original cartoons, has a restraining order against him.
But that isn’t how it should have gone down.
People respect strength. In fact, that’s all some people respect and violence is the only language a disturbing number of people understand. The unfortunate fact is the world is full of people who worship bullies and will only stop taking from or hurting others when forced to. Some wear suits and in work in banks and law firms. Others can be found in politics or preaching from the pulpit every Sunday. Some wear badges while others frequent bars, workplaces and school halls. And an uncomfortable number live right next door. If anything, the last fifteen months have proven this ugly reality undeniably true.
The trick is to reconcile the two different realities. So how do you communicate the need for sexual consent with the bully culture that is so prevalent in our society? You speak the right language to get your point across.
The scene should have included Penelope as well as Santo and when Le Pew went into libido mode, a fed up yet determined Penelope should have interjected. When Le Pew set his crosshairs on the long suffering Penelope, she should have channeled her inner Rhonda Roussey and cleaned the floor with him. She could even have performed her Mortal Kombat style beatdown with Santo’s Voce Voce playing in the background (an advocate for survivors of sexual assault after being victimized herself, Santo recorded Voce Voce in support of fellow survivors). Beyond just providing the soundtrack for Penelope’s righteous attack, Santo could applaud the fearsome cat and even high five her while she strutted away from Le Pew’s twitching, broken body. After one or two witty barbs at Le Pew’s expense, Santo and Penelope would leave the bar side by side, arms entwined in solidarity.
That’s when James, eyebrows raised in admiration and respect, could drop a “that’s what you get.”
Whether you agree with their decision to omit La Pew or not, it should be noted that Warner made this decision without pressure. Many critics of the move blame a New York Times columnist who accused Le Pew of contributing to rape culture on Twitter last March. But the truth is the call to omit Pepe from Space Jam 2 was made months before that Tweet ever saw the light of day. Santo’s scene was filmed in June of 2019-nearly two years ago-and was never even animated, indicating just how early the decision was made.
But it does look like Le Pew’s day is over. It’s pretty tough to find any of his Looney Tunes cartoons on HBOMax and Warner Bros.has no plans to include him in any new animated projects. Le Pew isn’t the first (have you seen Speedy Gonzales lately?) and he most likely won’t be the last. The truth is, as a B grade characters, his absence won’t affect the Looney Tunes popularity or bottom line in the slightest. But having said that, if this is Le Pew’s last hurrah, it might have been more appropriate too send him out with a bang.
Or an ass kicking.
Image via The Irish Times
