Pepe Le Pew Fired from Space Jam Movie After Being Accused of Perpetuating ‘Rape Culture’

The Looney Toons skunk Pepe Le Pew is the latest fictional character to fall victim to cancel culture warriors. The comically lecherous Le Pew was axed from Warner Brothers’ new “Space Jam” movie after being called out in the media for perpetuating “rape culture.”

The popular toon has reportedly had his scene cut from “Space Jam: A New Legacy,”  the sequel to the film he was a part of in 1997.

The hybrid live-action animation scene was shot in June 2019 and featured both Le Pew and actress Greice Santo, according to Deadline.

Pepe was set to appear in a black-and-white Casablanca-like Rick’s Cafe sequence. Pepe, playing a bartender, starts hitting on a woman at the bar played by Santo. He begins kissing her arm, which she pulls back, then slamming Pepe into the chair next to hers. She 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.

Santo was reportedly upset when she learned that her scene with Pepe Le Pew was cut because she believed “the skunk finally gets his comeuppance.”

“This was such a big deal for Greice to be in this movie,” A spokesperson for Santo said. “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.”

New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow accused Pepe Le Pew of “adding to rape culture” in a couple of tweets on March 6. Blow argued that the cartoon skunk—who was never intended to be thought of as anything other than an unacceptable lecher—taught boys “that no, really didn’t mean no.”

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.

— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) March 6, 2021

According to Deadline, Pepe’s removal from Space Jam had nothing to do with the columnist’s remarks.