He may have starred alongside Michael Jordan in the original Space Jam a quarter of a century ago, but it looks like Pepé Le Pew won't be making a return in the flick's sequel.
The French striped skunk recently came under intense scrutiny for his over the top approach to finding love.
A column in the New York Times by Charles M. Blow declared the Looney Tunes character 'normalised rape culture'. The decision to cut the character from Space Jam: A New Legacy was made before the NYT article was published, according to Deadline.
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Apparently, Pepé was meant to feature in a scene alongside Jane The Virgin actor Greice Santo, in which he (of course) forcibly tries to kiss the star before she pours a drink on him and slaps him.
LeBron James was then supposed to reveal that Pepé's perennial victim, Penelope the cat, has filed a restraining order against him and that he can't grab other Tunes without their consent.
The scene in question had been shot in June 2019.
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Upon hearing that her scene was cut, a spokesperson for Santo said the actor was disappointed in the choice to leave their appearance on the cutting room floor.
The spokesperson for Santo told Deadline: "This was such a big deal for Greice to be in this movie.
"Even though Pepé is a cartoon character, if anyone was going to slap a sexual harasser like him, Greice wished it would be her."Now the scene is cut, and she doesn't have that power to influence the world through younger generations who'll be watching Space Jam 2, to let younger girls and younger boys know that Pepe's behaviour is unacceptable."
NYT columnist Charles M. Blow copped a hell of a lot of flak for his piece and has since hit back at 'right wing' bloggers who criticised him.
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"Let's see. 1. He grabs/kisses a girl/stranger, repeatedly, w/o consent and against her will. 2. She struggles mightily to get away from him, but he won't release her 3. He locks a door to prevent her from escaping."
The columnist added in a threaded tweet: "This helped teach boys that 'no' didn't really mean no, that it was a part of 'the game,' the starting line o a power struggle.
"It taught overcoming a woman's strenuous, even physical objections, was normal, adorable, funny. They didn't even give the woman the ability to SPEAK."
Featured Image Credit: Warner BrosTopics: Entertainment, TV and Film