Cancel culture spares no one in today’s society. However, I am surprised by this woke venture…
A Pepe Le Pew scene was cut from the upcoming Warner Bros. sequel Space Jam: A New Legacy, starring LeBron James.
In the axed scene, Looney Tunes character Pepe Le Pew hits on a woman which results in having a drink thrown on him and a restraining order filed against him.
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 [Greice 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.
After learning about the cut, Santo was upset. She revealed that she is a victim of sexual harassment and felt the scene was empowering to women because the skunk is punished for his actions.
Santo said that she “took joy” in shooting that scene with Pepe.
“This was such a big deal for Greice to be in this movie,” said a spokesperson for Santo. “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 spokesperson added.
The news came after the skunk was bashed by New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow, who recently wrote that Pepe has “normalized rape culture.”
However, according to Deadline, the decision to cut Pepe from the sequel was made “a while ago” and not related to the NYT op-ed.
