Bugs Bunny is a bigot

[April]

http://www.kabc.com/goout.asp?u=http://www.abcnews.go.com


Bugs Bunny in Blackface
Racially Charged Cartoons Removed From Retrospective

May 4 — Most fans of wacky cartoon rabbit Bugs Bunny remember him posing as the Barber of Seville or escaping Yosemite Sam's stew pot.

But some less familiar Bugs skits are so controversial they are being banned from a cartoon retrospective in the works for next month on the Cartoon Network.

Executives had planned a complete run of the Bugs Bunny cartoons, but decided to omit 12 of the animated shorts because they were considered too racially charged, the Wall Street Journal reported today.

In an episode called "All This and Rabbit Stew," Bugs distracts a black rabbit hunter by rattling a pair of dice. In another episode, Bugs imitates a blackfaced Al Jolson. In another, he calls an oafish, bucktoothed Eskimo a "big baboon."

The controversial episodes, dating back to the 1930s and '40s, are representative of the racial stereotypes common in early cartoons. Unflattering depictions of blacks, American Indians, Japanese and Germans are quite common in cartoons of that era.

The retrospective was being billed as a historic television event, but executives eventually realized how offensive some cartoons would be to some viewers.

Thinking Twice About Historic Episodes

At first, Cartoon Network executives had planned on running the controversial episodes late at night along with prominently displayed disclaimers. But the network changed course and decided to eliminate the dozen cartoons from the lineup.

Warner Bros., the company that owns Bugs Bunny, had protested the inclusion of the 12 episodes in the annual Cartoon Network event, entitled "June Bugs," but didn't go so far as to veto them, the Journal reported. Warner Bros. reportedly expressed its worry that the episodes might affect the company's extensive merchandising ventures.

The Cartoon Network, owned by AOL Time Warner, Inc., holds a licensing agreement with Warner Bros. for the entire library of Bugs Bunny cartoons.

This isn't the first time Warner Bros. cartoons were pulled for their racially charged content. Others lampooning blacks were taken out of circulation in the late 1960s, animation expert Jerry Beck told the Journal. Cartoons featuring stereotyped American Indians were taken out of circulation about five years ago.


So what do you all think? Is Bugs a bigot? Should these "banned" episodes be included on the basis of historical TV? Is all this based on merchandising, or is it based on not wanting to be racially insensitive? Personally, I just don't know what to think.

 

[Renegade]

Always knew there was something wrong with that Wascaly Wabbit. LOL

It's always interesting seeing/reading some of the early works of the older characters that have been around for decades. I've read how there were some old Superman comics which had Supes rounding up Asians for those camps during the war. And a lot of older comics/cartoons also played up on the "women belong in the kitchen" stereotype.

Guess you can't blame Cartoon Network for not wanting to show some of those eps. There's a lot of pressure on TV shows and Movies about their influence on kids. Don't really think it's a fair call by the PC groups, but it's what we're forced to deal with these days. Not that it's anything new, but it's gotten worse since the school shootings.

Oh well, atleast we still have The Simpsons.

 

[Weird Harold]

Bugs Bunny is not alone.

All of the animation studios made some cartoons that are racist by today's standards. Especially common were anti-German and anti-Japanese cartoons during the war years. Disney did some rather explicit anti-VD cartoons for the war department that have never been broadcast, and probably never will be unless it's as short clips in a documentary about cartoons as propaganda..

I do think that the Cartoon Netwoek is wimping out by excluding those cartoons from a historical retrospective. They should show them with appropriate warnings to illustrate how cartoons reflected the values of society when they were made.

I have seen some of the very rare propaganda cartoons shown on shows like Toonheads, so the cartoon Network isn't completely gutless. However, if "June Bugs" is being billed as "all of the bugs bunny cartoons" then all of them should be included. Otherwise, they should clearly bill the special as being "all of the bugs bunny cartoons that won't offend anyone."

 

[RonG]

What A Maroon!

As far as being insensitive to people of color, it would seem to me that the Maroons would have been insulted the most.

As WH says, our notions of social propriety have changed a lot. For example, I bought my kids a tape of old Superman movies and one cartoon was called "Saboteurs" on the box. But when the cartoon was played, it was called "Japoteurs" and was unbelievably racist. Remember, this was a country that locked people up for the color of their skin and heritage during World War II.

But attempting to whitewash our history and pretend that it didn't happen is like the folks in Germany arguing that there never was a Holocaust. Show the cartoons and provide some exposition. Maybe they can get John Madden again to provide color commentary?

 

[Siren]

What's up Doc?

 

[Renegade]

Thhhaaaaa
Thaaaa
That's all folks.

That's another thing that pissed me off. When they wouldn't let Porky Pig say that line anymore because they thought it made kids stutter. What a revolting development this is...

 

[RonG]

You need to see the Porky Pig cartoon where he hits his thumb with a hammer and curses up a blue streak. I had never heard those words stuttered before . . .

Actually, kids of today should do as well to speak like the WB cartoon characters. The vocabularies of Wile E. Coyote, Bugs Bunny, and Foghorn Leghorn were miles ahead of modern teenagers.

 

[Siren]

Yea Ron G, what yu say...

 

[Renegade]

Yo.

I be down wit dat.

 

[MinkSoul]

now where did i put that...

PU-36 Explosive Space Modulat-or...

 

[Isolde]

I can see the point in wanting to avoid controversy but, in all truth, what those cartoons are depicting are part of our history. From how they protrayed blacks/african-americans to how they portrayed women.

Quite frankly, I say let them air them and that way people can sit down with their kids and say,"That's the way it used to be." Then maybe these kids can realize how far we have come and be more willing to look at our achievements in a different light and less willing to let the world slide back into that stereotype.

JMHO

 

[Weevil]

SO they won't show the cartoons where Bugs reveals himself to be a bigot but they will show the ones where he's a transvestite?

I'm glad to see the Cartoon network is so cool

 

[R Nitelight]

I was never comfortable with Bugs' blatant discrimination against Ducks......

 

[Siren]

Hahaha Nitelight

 

[batter]

cartoons

it wasn't long ago when someone complained about the cartoons being very violent. the use of mallets, boards, rocks, anvils etc and the use of guns and bows and arrows etc.
hell, people even complained about donald duck and porky pig being "naked" cause they didnt wear pants.

so instead, we let our kids watch wrestling where REAL people slam others with chairs, metal stairs, kick each other in the head, slam others into folding tables, ram the person into metal posts and choke them etc.,

I believe children can tell the difference between animation and real people. That is where parental guidance comes in. Teaching children the difference from right and wrong.

all the years of watching the 3 stooges in my younger days and i still havent gotten around to using a saw on someones head or poking someone in the eyes yet.I still cant lift an Acme anvil to drop on anyone either.

I can understand the problems with racism and stereotypeing people of different ethnic backgrounds, but we really need to learn to laugh at ourselves and dont be so uptight about silly animations.

if it keeps on, what do we do about commercials for pampers and handywipes? stop making them because there may be pedophiles watching and getting aroused?

 

[TygerEyez]

Poor Speedy Gonzales... made to work in the schlums of the mice holes, eating moldy cheese to sustain himself.

Lo siento, Senor Speedy, lo sientisimo.

^.*.^

 

[p_p_man]

If I was an African American, or a Caribbean American, or a Native American or whatever I think I'd be pretty damned mad at always having people walk around me on eggshells in case they hurt my feelings. I'd feel as if I were demasculated and all the nasty truths of my history were kept from me until I grew up.

Sometimes I wonder about the people who come up with these half-baked ideas.

 

[Blackbich]

OMG!!!

I've seen it all now.

I have to agree with Isolde on this one. I may be in the minority (no pun intended) here but I don't like that people feel they have to walk on eggshells and watch what they put on TV for fear of hurting someone's feelings. I would MUCH rather watch these things with my children and explain to them how far minorities in the US have come than have children that are totally ignorant to their entire history.

WTF???


*walking off shaking my head*

 

[p_p_man]

Re: OMG!!!

I've seen it all now.

I would MUCH rather watch these things with my children and explain to them how far minorities in the US have come than have children that are totally ignorant to their entire history.

Exactly. Sorry I just beat you to the post.

 

[Blackbich]

Damn, you sure did p-p.

I amend my post to say...

Yeah, what P P Man said!

And I still agree with Isolde.

<g>

 

[Renegade]

LOL

I was never comfortable with Bugs' blatant discrimination against Ducks....

Yeah, and you know the reason he picked on Daffy so much was because he's a black duck. Now I suddenly have the temptation to go outside and kill all the black ducks I can find. And it's all because of those damn cartoons. They've tainted my mind. *Loads shotgun*