“The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg has come out against the apparent cancellation of iconic Looney Tunes character Pepé Le Pew.
The Hollywood Reporter reported Monday that Le Pew will not appear in the forthcoming “Space Jam” sequel. In addition, the world’s most famous skunk is “not featured in any current Warner Bros. TV projects and there are no current plans” for his return, the outlet reported.
The news came after New York Times columnist Charles Blow accused Le Pew of “normalizing rape culture.”
During a discussion of eBay’s decision to halt the sale of six canceled Dr. Seuss books on Tuesday’s edition of the ABC show, Goldberg mentioned that Le Pew was also on the cultural chopping block.
PEPÉ LE PEW REPORTEDLY CANCELED BY WARNER BROS AS NYT COLUMNIST ACCUSES CARTOON OF PROMOTING ‘RAPE CULTURE’
“I just heard that they’re taking Pepé Le Pew out of ‘Space Jam’ and I think to myself, ‘Couldn’t y’all have just written a couple of lines to say, you know, Pepé doesn’t do that anymore because he knows it’s not OK to jump on other skunks who may not be as interested in him as he is interested?'” Goldberg wondered. “I don’t know why you’ve got to erase everything. I don’t get it. I don’t understand it.”
Joy Behar was quick to dismiss Le Pew’s demise, saying, ‘Well, nobody likes Pepé Le Pew anyway.”
“I do!” Goldberg exclaimed. “I like Pepé!”
According to THR, the decision to drop the odorous moufette from “Space Jam 2” was made “more than a year ago.”
Deadline also reported that a scene featuring Le Pew and actress Greice Santo was shot back in June 2019 but was “left on the cutting room floor.”
Times columnist Blow doubled down on his attack on Le Pew while responding to his critics.
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“RW blogs are mad bc I said Pepe Le Pew added to rape culture. Let’s see. 1. He grabs/kisses a girl/stranger, repeatedly, w/o consent and against her will. 2. She struggles mightily to get away from him, but he won’t release her 3. He locks a door to prevent her from escaping,” Blow tweeted Saturday while sharing a Pepé Le Pew montage.
He continued, “This helped teach boys that ‘no’ didn’t really mean no, that it was a part of ‘the game’, the starting line of a power struggle. It taught overcoming a woman’s strenuous, even physical objections, was normal, adorable, funny. They didn’t even give the woman the ability to SPEAK.”
Blow also accused fellow Looney Tunes mainstay Speedy Gonzales of “helping popularize the corrosive stereotype of the drunk and lethargic Mexicans.”