Speedy Gonzales Debate Erupts Amidst Pepe Le Pew Backlash

This weekend saw a surprising explosion of debates about 20th-century cartoon characters — most [...]

By Michael Hein

This weekend saw a surprising explosion of debates about 20th-century cartoon characters — most prominently Pepé Le Pew and Speedy Gonzales. The two characters got starkly different treatments in the arguments, chiefly because of the stereotypes they were based on. While Pepé was easy for most people to condemn, the conversation about Speedy was a bit more nuanced.

The whole debate stems from Dr. Seuss Enterprises' announcement this week that it would stop publishing six of the author's old books, which contain racist imagery and language. In response, Charles M. Blow wrote an op-ed for The New York Times, arguing that those Seuss books were just the tip of the iceberg. He argued that children's media of the last century was heavily steeped in racism and bigotry, citing Pepé Le Pew and Speedy Gonzales as two examples. Before long, both cartoons were trending on Twitter, with commenters arguing over their specific favorite characters rather than Blow's greater point.

Speedy Gonzales is a special case because many Latino and Latino-American users were the ones defending him. Many argued that he was the first and most prominent representation they remember seeing in pop culture, even if he was flawed in some ways. Some generalized that any attempt to "cancel" Speedy was rooted in "white guilt," not real altruism.

Still, there's no denying that Gonzales reflects a different cultural time, and many of the jokes in his cartoons are troubling in hindsight. At the same time, it is a major leap to say that Blow or anyone else was trying to "cancel" Speedy in any meaningful way. Rather, they were trying to draw readers' attention to a cultural artifact and provoke some critical thought.

Like Pepé Le Pew, the debate about Speedy Gonzales is also far from new. The conversation has been had again and again, yet none of them have resulted in him leaving TV. Nevertheless, it rages on to this day. Scroll down for a look at Twitter's latest debate about Speedy Gonzales.

Test

Some critics joked that a simple litmus test for Speedy would be to imagine those jokes being made for the first time today. In most cases, this thought experiment ended quickly.

Free Time

Many users joked that anyone criticizing Speedy Gonzales in 2021 has too much free time on their hands. However, they might not have known that a new iteration of Speedy will debut later this year in Space Jam: A New Legacy, where he will be voiced by Gabriel Iglesias.

James Gunn

Filmmaker James Gunn posted a thread on Saturday saying that the debate over Speedy was being over-simplified — and that many others had been as well. Gunn himself was briefly fired from Marvel Studios over some dark, violent jokes he made earlier in the decade, so he is more qualified to weigh in on the subject than most.

'Looney Tunes'

Die-hard Looney Tunes fans acknowledged that the entire franchise has problematic moments in its nearly century-long history. They argued that the characters all needed to change and grow with the times, but that it shouldn't snuff them out of existence.

Annoying

Many, many commenters said that the whole conversation about these cartoons was annoying and that people on both sides were out of line.

Beloved

Many people tweeted references to a past attempt to "cancel" Speedy, saying that it had failed because Latino people simply loved him too much. This is essentially true — according to a report by Quartz, Cartoon Network shelved Speedy in 1999, but the League of United Latin American Citizens lobbied for his return. Speedy was back on the air in 2002 and has gone through some subtle changes since then.

Repetitive

Finally, people on both sides of the issue observed that the debate about Speedy, Pepé and other characters was simply repetitive and boring. They called for an end to these circular debates with no end in sight.

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