Will Pepe Le Pew be canceled after Dr. Seuss? NYT columnist claims Looney Tunes’ amorous skunk ‘normalized rape culture’ and taught boys that ‘no didn’t really mean no’
- Charles M. Blow made his critical comments in an article titled ‘Six Seuss Books Bore a Bias’
- The Pepe Le Pew debate is not entirely new. Comedian Dave Chappelle called Le Pew a rapist in 2000 in his first HBO special, Killin’ Them Softly
- What kind of f**king rapist is this guy? Take it easy!’ Chappelle had said
- In one 2018 article published by Vocal Media, the author argued that: ‘Pepe Le Pew Is the Mascot of Sexual Harassment’
- Others have come to Le Pew’s defense saying that the cartoon is meant to satirize the concept of ‘love at first sight’
- ‘I think the moral of Pepe is in fact about respecting women and not to be a skunk,’ one person said
A columnist for The New York Times has published an op-ed that claims the Looney Tunes skunk Pepe Le Pew ‘normalized rape culture.’
Charles M. Blow made his critical comments in an article titled ‘Six Seuss Books Bore a Bias’ published in the Grey Lady in the wake of news that certain beloved Dr. Suess children’s books were getting ‘cancelled’ for racist depictions.
In the article, Blow wrote: ‘Some of the first cartoons I can remember included Pepé Le Pew, who normalized rape culture; Speedy Gonzales, whose friends helped popularize the corrosive stereotype of the drunk and lethargic Mexicans; and Mammy Two Shoes, a heavyset Black maid who spoke in a heavy accent.’
