When it comes to the masters of the Golden Age of animation, Tex Avery doesn’t get mentioned as often as Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Max Flesicher, or Walt Disney. But perhaps he should. Avery made what are considered the first cartoons to feature Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny. The phrase “What’s up, Doc?” was his contribution it’s a saying from his native Texas. He created the character Egghead, who later evolved into Elmer Fudd. He slimmed down the initially enormous Porky Pig into something more like his lovable current appearance. And he’s arguably
the architect of the Looney Tunes / Merrie Melodies style the one who helped make the series more than a clone of Disney’s cartoons, mainly by picking up the pace and adding an air of anything-goes chaos. When he moved to MGM, he created Droopy as well as his risqué take on the fairy-tale Wolf, who doesn’t want to eat Red Riding Hood so much as get her in the sack.
Pepe Le Pew, whose appearance in Space Jam 2 has been cancelled
Credit: Alamy
The cancel culture debate stinks. Quite literally, this time. The latest name to be tossed on the ever-growing scrapheap of problematic, un-PC stars is, ahem, Pepe Le Pew, the randy French skunk from the Looney Tunes cartoons.
Pepe – who debuted in the 1945 short Odor-able Kitty – was set to appear in the upcoming Space Jam: A New Legacy, in a scene with Jane the Virgin star Greice Santo. Now Deadline reports that the loved-up Pepe has been scrapped from the film. The news comes after New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow said the character “added to rape culture”.