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Cartoon Network Drops an Anvil
On Plans to Show Bugs in Blackface

By SALLY BEATTY Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

It’s a side of Bugs Bunny many fans have never seen.

In “All This and Rabbit Stew,” Bugs distracts a black rabbit-hunter by rattling a pair of dice. In “Any Bonds Today?” he appears in blackface. In “Frigid Hare,” Bugs calls an ungainly, bucktoothed Eskimo a “big baboon.”

These and other racially charged cartoons were going to be included in a Bugs Bunny retrospective slated for next month on AOL Time Warner Inc.’s Cartoon Network. The annual “June Bugs” event is designed to boost ratings when kids are just out of school. The sensitive cartoons -- 12 in all -- would have given weight to Cartoon Network’s claim that this year’s Bugs Bunny marathon, originally intended to feature every Bugs cartoon ever created, will be a historic television event.

In Toon With the Times

Cartoon Network executives abruptly changed course last week. The retrospective will still run in June as scheduled. But it will be a dozen cartoons short of the promise. Although the 12 cartoons were to have been presented with prominent disclaimers, Cartoon Network executives became worried that they still would be seen as offensive.

The reversal shines a light on the early days of cartoons, when racially insensitive fare was common. Ethnic stereotypes were considered fair game, and animation, an art that depends on satire and edgy humor, fell in step with everyday prejudices. Icons such as Bugs Bunny also enlisted in the government’s propaganda efforts during World War II; the cartoons that emerged were in sync with the nation’s sensibilities at the time.

Cartoon Network’s flip-flop also offers an insight into the competing pressures inside AOL Time Warner’s enormous collection of media properties.

Warner Bros., which owns the wisecracking rabbit, oversees a substantial merchandising empire that depends on protecting Bugs’s image. Warner Bros. voiced its displeasure over the inclusion of the 12 cartoons, though it stopped short of a veto. A spokeswoman for Warner Bros. said it didn’t tell the Cartoon Network what to do, but she declined to comment further.
Politically Incorrect Rabbit

Unflattering depictions of blacks, American Indians, Japanese and Germans are laced throughout early Bugs Bunny cartoons. Three years after Bugs had his debut in 1938 in a theatrical cartoon called “Porky’s Hare Hunt,” he outsmarted a dimwitted Indian in “Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt.”

Bugs’s run-in with the black rabbit-hunter also was in theaters in 1941. In the cartoon, the pair disappear behind a bush to shoot craps. A 1942 cartoon featured Bugs Bunny imitating Al Jolson in full blackface. In a 1949 cartoon, Bugs sells tickets to “Uncle Tom’s Cabinet,” a spoof of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s antislavery novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

The Cartoon Network knew a truly inclusive Bugs retrospective could offend some viewers. But with competition for cartoon lovers on the increase, people there figured that broadcasting the dozen in contention would boost Cartoon Network’s claims to be “the world leader in animation.” And it would be impossible to document the whole history of Bugs Bunny without showing racial stereotypes.

To address the disturbing cartoon content and to ensure that kids wouldn’t be likely to see them, Cartoon Network planned to run the 12 out of chronological order and late at night. A disclaimer was to scroll across the bottom of the screen during the broadcast: “Cartoon Network does not endorse the use of racial slurs. These vintage cartoons are presented as representative of the time in which they were created and are presented for their historical value.”

“We wanted to please the animation community,” says Betty Cohen, Cartoon Network’s president.

But Cartoon Network’s plans were at odds with efforts by Warner Bros. to keep such images out of circulation. Warner Bros. began pulling Bugs Bunny cartoons featuring African-Americans from its TV packages in the late 1960s, sensitized by the civil-rights movement, says animation expert Jerry Beck. Cartoons featuring stereotyped American Indians disappeared from general viewing about five years ago. At about the same time, Warner Bros. withdrew a video compilation from Warner Bros. Studio Stores when it discovered that it contained a Bugs Bunny cartoon called “Bugs Nips the Nips,” made during World War II.

More recently, when filmmaker Spike Lee was making the film “Bamboozled,” which dealt extensively with black stereotypes in Hollywood, Warner Bros. turned down his request to include images of Bugs Bunny in blackface.
Treasure Trove

Warner Bros. lawyers repeatedly rebuffed Cartoon Network requests to screen sensitive Bugs Bunny cartoons, even for the network’s own internal purposes, says Mike Lazzo, Cartoon Network’s head of programming. Turner Broadcasting launched Cartoon Network in 1992, in part to take advantage of the pre-1948 Bugs Bunny cartoons that Ted Turner acquired when he bought the MGM film library in 1986.

Following the sale of Turner Broadcasting to Time Warner in 1996, Cartoon Network turned over rights to the cartoons to Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. and Turner executives later sparred over existing commitments made by Warner Bros. to sell some Bugs Bunny TV rights to Viacom Inc.’s Nickelodeon and Walt Disney Co.’s ABC. Warner Bros. was determined to honor its contracts; Turner wanted Warner Bros. to be more supportive of the Turner networks. Last September, Bugs Bunny rights held by Nickelodeon and ABC finally expired. That cleared the way for the licensing of the entire Bugs Bunny library to Cartoon Network, thus making possible a truly comprehensive broadcast.

Despite trumpeting the Bugs retrospective in February, Cartoon Network didn’t tell Warner Bros. that it would present the 12 cartoons until April 26. The disclosure came in the form of a phone call Ms. Cohen says she made to a Warner Bros. marketing executive. “He wasn’t thrilled about the stunt,” she recalls. “He said, ‘You sound like you are apologizing for this.’ “ Ms. Cohen says the executive left it up to her to decide what to do. “It was like, ‘Hey, it’s your network, you know what you’re doing.’ “

Asking the Boss

Ms. Cohen even spoke to Gerald Levin, AOL Time Warner’s chief executive. “Somebody told me that he’s always really been very concerned about these,” she says. “I just thought I better find out if that’s true. He left it up to us. He said, ‘Could you just look at them again?’ “ Ms. Cohen says. AOL Time Warner, speaking for Mr. Levin, declined to comment.

After much internal debate at Cartoon Network, Ms. Cohen says she decided a week ago Friday to yank the 12 cartoons. She says she acted after concluding that an audience could well be offended by them, even with a disclaimer.

“I don’t like sweeping things under the rug,” she adds. “I wanted to honor the intense interest that animation fans have for us, but I can’t deny we’re a mass medium.”
The Cartoon Network now says it plans to run a separate program about Bugs Bunny cartoons made during World War II, featuring clips of unflattering portrayals of Germans and Japanese. And the network is mulling yet another special featuring clips from all 12 cartoons that have been pulled from the Bugs retrospective.

Write to Sally Beatty at sally.beatty@wsj.com1

Copyright © 2001 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

I grew up with these cartoons. I am happy to say that I have no problems with any of them.

Why is it that people now are so sensitive about everything to the point that nobody can see it if it offends anybody?

So, when are they going do drop Elmer Fudd? He is offensive to white men, is he not?

How about Porky Pig? He offends people that are speech-challenged...

The INKI series of cartoons were funny. You will never see them again on TV. I have never thought that Inki was any thing more than an animated charactor. The same thing goes for all other "stereotypes" that are present in these and all other cartoons from the studios.

These cartoons are part of our history. This is nothing but censorship.

As it is, there are many WB cartoons that Turner runs that have certain scenes edited from them that are considered too violent. For WHO?
Kids today see cartoons on TV that are much worse than any of the ones made in the 1930's-1950's!

This subject has always irritated me and it is a slap in the face of all the normal people on the planet that can tell the difference between truth and satire.

In the original, Yosemite Sam tosses a can into the air and shoots some holes in it while it's in the air. Then he challenges Bugs to do the same.

"Gee, that's pretty good....but I'll give it a try," says Bugs, whereupon he tosses the can in the air, takes aim, but instead of firing, he follows the can as it falls and doesn't pull the trigger until the can is right in front of Sam. BANG! Of course Sam's face is all blackened. "OOOOOHH, ya buck toothed galoot! Ya did that on purpose!"

The "altered version" starts out the same, except for the last part, Bugs shoots corks from his gun to plug the holes Sam shot in the can.

The first way is funny! The second way is just stupid!

And please don't start flaming me with anti-gun crap. As it happens, I'm kind of anti-gun myself. However, I understand the difference between a cartoon and real life, as I'm sure most kids do.

Remember that Road Runner cartoon "Chariots of Fur" that came out a few years ago? It was directed by Chuck Jones, but...it had no explosions!! What's up with that? A Road Runner cartoon just isn't complete without Wile E. getting blown up a few times!

The thing is, putting African American people in a light like that is now considered unacceptable by society. However, when black people dress up in "white face" like Eddie Murphy does, it is not considered racist, but humorous instead. I even laugh at it and I am not offended that he is making fun of my "proud white race" or anything like that. Why it all works this way is beyond me. Oh, and black people call each other "Niggers", but if a white person even mentions the word in ANY context then he is a racist.

Eventually society will iron itself out, I hope.

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The cartoons in this compilation were all duped from 16mm prints held by a private collector, so the quality was very poor. My favourite was 'Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves' (1943), a sendup of Uncle Walt's slushy moralising fare (the 'Shrek' of its day, I'd guess) in which the heroine is a singer in a Harlem nightclub.

According to a chapter in a book on Hollywood cartoons I went out and bought shortly after seeing this (Norman M. Klein, '7 Minutes - The Life and Death of the American Animated Cartoon', NY, Verso, 1992), Warners soon became very embarassed by it and even today would prefer to forget that the cartoon had ever been made.

On the war issue, I find it interesting that the anti-Japanese Looney Tunes have been brushed under the carpet and are very rarely seen, whilst the anti-Nazi ones are still shown regularly and can be found on several Warners' VHS and DVD releases.

If they start censoring cartoons like Bugs Bunny, etc., they should put a pair of pants on Bugs Bunny, The Roadrunner, and Tweety Bird to keep the damn "Politically Correct" zealots happy.

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Personally, I think it is a bunch of crap.

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Simple and although not completely elequently said, straight to the point! What is the matter with people these days? It seems as if everything is considered racist and offensive, when in fact it has turned into exactly the opposite in over-worrying about offending someone. Just like Joe said, I've never seen a "white" comedian make "black" jokes, but "white" jokes made by "black" comedians is all too common. (And Joe is right, those "white" jokes are pretty damned funny!) We've got "Black History Month", but no "White History Month". Heck, there's "BET" (Black Entertainment Television) on cable and the dish, but no "WET". I'm quite certain if someone actually made a "WET" channel that the first word uttered by tens of thousands would be RACIST!!! I am not racist by any means, but people who constantly scream it are quite offensive. Geez, if only people would just lighten up a bit. It seems that the only people who are truly racist are the ones shouting it. (Die Hard 3 is a nice example.)

The whole "politically correct" thing has just gone on way too far though. If I have to wait thorugh one more "this call may be monitored for quality assurance" messages only to end up speaking to some rude moron...

Jesse, unfortunately the "bug" that appears in the lower right-hand corner is present in the main satellite feed out of Cartoon Network and will be seen whether you have cable or satellite for reception.

This article sent me scurrying to my SHORTS database to see if I had any of the proscribed cartoons, I do have "Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt," but none of the others, regrettably; altho I do have approx. 3/4 of the 1004 Warner Bros. cartoons that were issued, along with many others and about 90% of the 3-Stooges shorts; all compiled on about 125 "SHORTS" tapes, all commersh edited. It will probably be impossible to ever get all 1004. The "bug" Jesse mentioned is not present as most of this was taped off-cable during the '80s... but as it all derived from 16mm tv prints ranging from new to beat-up, the quality is not as consistently good as today. I think the cartoon network has each cartoon on its own betacam cassette from a 35mm transfer so the quality today is better, that is, of what is shown.

As some of us may know, the 3-Stooges are being shown regularly on American Movie Classics [ch.254, DTV satellite] since Jan. last year and in transfers from 35mm prints. At one time I was beginning to despair that we'd never see the Stooges from anything but beat-up 16mm tv prints, but have compiled an additional some 20+ tapes of just Stooges. Have 100% of their full-length features, as far as I know.

Future project, if I get a tivo machine I'll start recording cartoons to HDD which later will enable very precise snipping of commersh and generate new master tapes, perhaps in Hi-8 format; but so many projects are backed up now I'm booked solid the next 20 Years!! For now it's always fun to put on 2 hours of cartoons & 3-Stooges even if it is scratchy! Infantile mind, you know.

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In a 1949 cartoon, Bugs sells tickets to “Uncle Tom’s Cabinet,” a spoof of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s antislavery novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

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Yes? What is wrong with that? They're saying it like he'd just been depicted molesting a child. So a book, now, can't even be mentioned in a joke?! All this hyper-sensitivity and overreaction to speech is what happens when wimps have too much power.

They're getting to be like Hitler.

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Better Projection Pays!

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