Pepe Le Pew has been a part of the Looney Tunes canon for years but now the character is being benched. The character will not be showing up at all in the upcoming theatrical sequel Space Jam: A New Legacy on July 16, 2021. The decision has been made in the wake of New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow slamming that the cartoon character because of its link to "rape culture."
The Pepe Le Pew scene was shot back in June of 2019 when it was filmed by the film's first director, Terence Nance. The director left the production with Malcolm D. Lee taking over at the helm and under the direction of Lee, Pepe Le Pew was eliminated from the sequel a while ago and never animated for the live-action footage which was shot. According to "Deadline", the character being cut from the film has nothing to do with the recent backlash but the timing is very suspect.
The scene with the character that was cut was a black-and-white Casablanca-like Rick’s Cafe sequence. Pepe, playing a bartender, starts hitting on a woman at the bar played by Greice Santo. He begins kissing her arm, which she pulls back, then slamming Pepe into the chair next to hers. Santo then pours her drink on Pepe, and slaps him hard, sending him spinning in a stool, which is then stopped by LeBron James’ hand. James and Bugs Bunny are looking for Lola, and Pepe knows her whereabouts. Pepe then tells the guys that Penelope cat has filed a restraining order against him. James makes a remark in the script that Pepe can’t grab other Tunes without their consent. A spokesperson for Santo has this to say about the scene being cut:
"This was such a big deal for Greice to be in this movie. Even though Pepe is a cartoon character, if anyone was going to slap a sexual harasser like him, Greice wished it would be her. Now the scene is cut, and she doesn’t have that power to influence the world through younger generations who’ll be watching Space Jam 2, to let younger girls and younger boys know that Pepe’s behavior is unacceptable."
The Pepe Le Pew character has been problematic for years but the recent wave of cancel culture has put him in the spotlight. As New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow puts it "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." This is all very true and I think it's something that we've all spoken about but why now? Why is this the moment we've decided that this is wrong after all these years? It's one of those situations where you can't disagree with the sentiment but you have to wonder why it has suddenly become an issue.
Do YOU agree that Pepe Le Pew should be cut from pop culture?