The new Looney Toons cartoon will strip Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam of their rifles in response to US gun violence, the show's makers ...
The new Looney Toons cartoon will strip Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam of their rifles in response to US gun violence, the show's makers have confirmed.
Executive producer of the new series, Peter Browngardt, told The New York Times: 'We're not doing guns. But we can do cartoony violence — TNT, the Acme stuff. All of that was kind of grandfathered in.'
That means frustrated hunter Fudd will still get a scythe to hunt Bugs Bunny.
The series airs on HBO Max and premiered last week. It features 200 new cartoons starring Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and Tweey Bird.
The new Looney Toons cartoon will strip Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam of their rifles in response to US gun violence, the show's makers have confirmed
Yosemite Sam, who traditionally carried pistols, is also an enemy of Bugs Bunny
Each episode will last between one and six minutes.
Elmer Fudd had traditionally chased Bugs Bunny with his catchphrase: 'Shhh. Be vewy, vewy quiet. I'm hunting wabbits.'
Yosemite Sam, who traditionally carried pistols, is also an enemy of Bugs Bunny.
Browngardt added: 'I always thought, "What if Warner Bros had never stopped making Looney Tunes cartoons?"
'As much as we possibly could, we treated the production in that way.'
Artist Johnny Ryan added: 'We're going through this wave of anti-bullying, everybody needs to be friends, everybody needs to get along.
'Looney Toons is pretty much the antithesis of that.
'It's two characters in conflict, sometimes getting pretty violent.'
The news sparked a mixed reaction online with some Twitter user suggesting the move was a 'snowflake' reaction.
One Twitter user commented: 'Elmer fudd without his gun, is like yosemite sam without his moustache.'
But others praised the decision, writing: 'I love cartoons; always have and I'm a big believer that classic cartoons can teach us a lot about the world views of the era they were made, even if they aren't socially acceptable in a modern era. Especially so. So kudos Warner Bros for taking this stance on gun violence.'
One Twitter user joked: 'I can't believe this needs to be said, but Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd were never responsible gun owners anyway.'
Peter Browngardt said the new series can do 'cartoony violence like TNT'. That means frustrated hunter Fudd will still get a scythe to hunt Bugs Bunny
The news sparked a mixed reaction online
Looney Tunes originally launched in 1930 and ended 39 years later.
Other franchises have also had to made adjustments for modern audiences.
In November last year Disney issued warnings across many of its older films.
Several titles on Disney+ include the warning that it 'may contain outdated cultural depictions' or that it may contain footage of characters smoking.
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