Pepe Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales and The Berenstain Bears are being scrutinised and cancelled for harmful and offensive content on Twitter.
Shortly after Dr Seuss novels were banned by retailers for containing — what some consider — dangerous, offensive and outdated material other beloved children’s characters are now under fire, too.
Ebay and Amazon have completely banned the sale of select Dr Seuss novels on their websites. One particular book that sparked controversy featured an image of a boy in traditional Chinese attire with the caption, “and the Chinese boy who eats with sticks.”
A lot of Chinese-American people have spoken out in defence of the novel and said that they are not at all offended or outraged by the children’s book, yet Amazon and Ebay have completely banned the book after pressure from the Chinese Communist Party government.
This wouldn’t be the first time that China has strongarmed a foreign company into banning products. A critically acclaimed Taiwanese psychological horror game was banned off Steam and GOG for an Easter Egg that showed the Chinese president’s name and Winnie The Pooh written in the traditional language.
However, China seemingly have nothing to do with the next three instances of cancel culture. Speedy Gonzales, Pepe Le Pew and The Berenstain Bears are now under fire.
Speedy Gonzales is racist.
Many have called out Speedy Gonzales for being a racist stereotypical depiction of Mexicans. His appearance and accent were heavily scrutinised by Twitter activists but they were quickly shutdown by the Mexican community.
“We love Speedy Gonzales, he’s a bit like a national hero to us. Why are white liberals getting offended on our behalf? Please stop,” one user tweeted.
Even popular film director James Gunn chimed in saying that, although he believes Speedy Gonzales is a racist stereotype, the character isn’t harmful of dangerous like Pepe Le Pew.
Pepe Le Pew is a rapist.
Pepe Le Pew is a cartoon depiction of a creepy French guy who likes women a bit too much. Twitter went wild and demanded that the character be removed from the upcoming Space Jam sequel because he “contributes to rape culture.”
Warner Bros responded to the outrage and has promised that Pepe Le Pew will not feature in Space Jam 2. Additionally, they have desexualised Lola Bunny and given her an ambiguous gender after some trans rights activists deemed her over-feminine appearance to be problematic and offensive to their community.
The Berenstain Bears are transphobic.
The beloved children’s novel turned classic animated series is also getting a lot of flack for its depiction of a wholesome and functional family.
“The Berenstain Bears is transphobic propaganda that brainwashed kids into believing that their are only two genders and reinforces the toxic ideology of a nuclear family,” an outraged activist opined.
“I see her, she sees me, we see that we are he and she.
Every single bear we see is a he bear or a she.
Every single bear we see has lots of things to do and be.”
After the article was posted on a popular parenting foru, the author was bombarded with threatening messages calling her transphobic for fondly recalling the time she read this book to her children.
One user outright called it “hate speech” before offering up their so-called improved version of the rhyme:
“I see them, they see me, No one can tell whose a he or a she (apart from asking their identity).”
Amazon and Ebay have taken these complaints under consideration and might ban the book from their online stores.
Likewise Netflix have reportedly cancelled Green Eggs And Hams season 2 after the Dr Seuss controversy. Netflix have been slammed for this decision especially considering they refused to remove a movie that sexualised children under the age of 12 and even violated certain child exploitation laws both in the USA and in Australia.
Netflix went on to defend the very controversial child exploitation film Cuties going as far as to calling it a great piece of art.