News surfaced in early March that Lola Bunny, a character introduced in the original Space Jam, was undergoing a massive redesign for the sequel. The goal was to change her from “sexualized” to “strong,” but the decision did not sit well with a professional golfer-turned-media personality. Paige Spiranac sounded off about the change and said that director Malcolm D. Lee took away Lola’s femininity.
“The director wanted her to be less sexy and be seen as more strong. So what the director decided to do was take away all of her femininity,” she said, per The Sun. “She has no curves and her outfit is long basketball shorts with compression shorts and a baggy shirt. I took so much offense to this. They’re basically insinuating that you can’t be sexy and also strong.”
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Spiranac continued and said that she doesn’t like the new direction of the design and that people celebrating International Women’s Day “don’t practice what they preach.” She said that other women treat her differently and criticize her for showing cleavage. Spiranac claimed that other women said she is holding them back.
“And to be seen as strong you have to be seen as more masculine,” Spiranac said about the redesign. “And you can’t show off your body or curves. I hated that. I don’t like what they’re trying to say with this new Lola bunny. All women can be strong and sexy and empowered in their own way.
“It’s a cartoon character, like what the f— are we actually talking about here but taking the boobs off Lola Bunny you are saying you can never be seen that way because women who have large breasts, what do we do about that?”
Adding to her point about Lola’s impact on the original film, Spiranac said that the cartoon bunny was a “f—ing bada—.” She said that Lola balled out and looked good but that she didn’t put up with certain treatment from other characters. “When she gave it to Bugs Bunny and said ‘don’t call me babe’ then walked out, that was an empowering moment for three-year-old Paige watching this,” Spiranac said.
Lee explained the redesign during an interview with Entertainment Weekly. He said that “Lola [Bunny] was very sexualized, like Betty Boop mixed with Jessica Rabbit.” The director then said that the bunny was “not politically correct” and it “felt unnecessary” for the character to wear a crop top. “It just felt unnecessary, but at the same time there’s a long history of that in cartoons,” Lee added.
