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Cancel Pepe Le Pew and Speedy Gonzales?
The two decades-old "Looney Tunes" characters were in peril recently after a New York Times columnist took issue with them in an op-ed about six nixed Dr. Seuss books.
The essay prompted Latino fans of Speedy to push back on Twitter.
"I loved watching Speedy Gonzales growing up," wrote one user, @soytaquitobelle. "He always outsmarted the ones trying to catch him or attack him. I’m Mexican. I don’t want him ‘cancelled.’"
Gabriel Iglesias, a Hispanic comedian who will lend voice to Speedy in the new "Space Jam" movie, called out "cancel culture" too.
REP. MCCARTHY POSTS VIDEO READING DR. SUESS BOOK AFTER 6 OTHER TITLES CANCELED
"Does this mean they are gonna try to cancel Fluffy too?" he tweeted, using a nickname for himself. "U can’t catch me cancel culture. I’m the fastest mouse in all of Mexico."
Charles Blow, who penned the Dr. Seuss op-ed, argued that Speedy Gonzales’ on-screen friends "helped popularize the corrosive stereotype of the drunk and lethargic Mexicans."
NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY WILL KEEP DR. SEUSS BOOKS ON ITS SHELVES: HERE'S WHY
He later tweeted a video of Pepe, a cartoon French skunk who for many was way too touchy-feely with females on screen, forcibly hugging and kissing a cartoon cat as evidence that the character "normalized rape culture."
Speedy Gonzales arrives at the Preview Party of the new Speedy Collection on April 19, 2007 in Los Angeles. (Getty Images)
But Speedy was the self-styled "fastest mouse in all Mexico" -- known for outsmarting and outrunning villains while repeating his Spanish-language mantra: "¡Andale! ¡Andale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba!" ("Come on! Come on! Up! Up!")
"Really? We're doing this?" wrote voice actor Victor Melin. "The Speedy Gonzales discourse? Let me be clear, Most, if not, a MAJORITY of us Hispanics and Latinos freaking LOVE Speedy. I grew up in a Mexican/Salvadoran household in which we ADORED him and still do. He ain't offensive. STOP IT!!!"
"I did not like getting called ‘Speedy Gonzalez’ by the all-white coaches and teammates on my Y baseball team, with them adding "ANDA-LAY ANDA-LAY!"," wrote Moisés Chiullán. "...bc I’m not Mexican, I’m Cuban. I f------ love Speedy Gonzalez."
Other people also weighed in on the controversy.
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"I think most Latin people love Speedy Gonzalez, which is a pretty good argument that he shouldn't be ‘canceled,’" wrote director James Gunn. "But Pepe le Pew, to me at least, is offensive because of the way he treats that cat."
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