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Pepé Le Pew never raped anyone says creator Chuck Jones' daughter Linda Jones while defending cartoon skunk

Linda Jones has come out in support of her father’s work as she has said that the skanky skunk was never created to be a rapist but maybe his approach looked outdated in today's time.

Chuck Jones created and first drew Pepé Le Pew, the Looney Tunes character that has recently been retired by Warner Bros after it was claimed it "normalized rape culture". However, the cartoonist's daughter, Linda Jones, has come out in support of her father’s work as she said the skanky skunk was never created to be a rapist but maybe his approach looked outdated in today's time.

Speaking with TMZ, Linda stated that she did not agree with the allegations that Pepé Le Pew contributed to rape culture as claimed by Charles M. Blow, a columnist for The New York Times. She claimed that the classic Looney Tunes character never inspired or encouraged anyone to go out and rape, or even harass, people. She even added that there was not a single instance where the cartoon character, made by her father, raped another character on the show.

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Though Linda admitted that Pepé Le Pew’s approach towards Penelope Pussycat was not very acceptable in today’s era, she noted people who used to watch it in the '50s, '60s, and '70s did not think it encouraged rape. She also seemed unhappy with Warner Bros’ decision to not include the cartoon character in their future projects and the removal of the character from the upcoming film, ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’. However, she had a suggestion for the production company that could help rebrand her father’s creation to fit today’s standards. Linda suggested that the cartoon character can be re-written as a permanent job-seeking candidate who keeps getting rejected, but continuously makes changes to his routine thinking he is the perfect one.

This comes after Blow wrote in an op-ed piece for NYT that, “Some of the first cartoons I can remember included Pepé Le Pew, who normalized rape culture; Speedy Gonzales, whose friends helped popularize the corrosive stereotype of the drunk and lethargic Mexicans; and Mammy Two Shoes, a heavyset Black maid who spoke in a heavy accent.” Insisting he was right, he took to Twitter on March 6 to describe what made Chuck Jones’ creation controversial, writing, “RW blogs are mad bc I said Pepe Le Pew added to rape culture. 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.”

He added in another tweet, “This helped teach boys that ‘no’ didn’t really mean no, that it was a part of ‘the game’, the starting line of 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.” Blow received support from people online as one user said, “Cartoons shape kid’s culture and behavior, and they literally learn by imitation. @CharlesMBlow is straight on point here. The fact that it was produced in the 50s shows how far we’ve had to come to clearly see the misogynistic distortions of that time.” “I've been calling this out for over 30 years in my personal life. I got a lot of eye rolls. Maybe things can change,” another user added.