Latino Comedian Mocks Cancel Culture While Defending His Role as Speedy Gonzales
A Latino comedian who is the voice of Speedy Gonzales in the new movie “Space Jam: A New Legacy” mocked the cancel culture that knocked longtime animated icon Pepé Le Pew out of the film.
“I am the voice of Speedy Gonzales in the new Space Jam. Does this mean they are gonna try to cancel Fluffy too? U can’t catch me cancel culture. I’m the fastest mouse in all of Mexico,” tweeted Gabriel Iglesias, who also is known as “Fluffy.”
I am the voice of Speedy Gonzales in the new Space Jam. Does this mean they are gonna try to cancel Fluffy too? U can’t catch me cancel culture. I’m the fastest mouse in all of Mexico ? pic.twitter.com/Ov4wjO00kM
— G a b r i e l – I g l e s i a s (@fluffyguy) March 6, 2021
The character of Speedy Gonzales was trashed by Charles Blow in a March 3 Op-Ed in The New York Times.
He criticized “Speedy Gonzales, whose friends helped popularize the corrosive stereotype of the drunk and lethargic Mexicans.” Blow also attacked Pepé Le Pew, who, Blow said, “normalized rape culture.”
Some said the Mexican mouse was a harmless bit of fun.
we living in a sad time where people wake up looking for things to be victims about
— Mr. J (@Mistah_J84) March 6, 2021
As a Mexican, I’ve never felt attacked by Speedy Gonzales of his representation of Mexicans; he’s just a funny cartoon character I grew up with and nothing more and indeed, es el ratón más rápido de todo México!
— Daniel Burciaga (@DannyBurciaga) March 8, 2021
Neither me nor anyone amongst my family and friends in Mexico felt offended by Speedy Gonzales.
He was intelligent, witty, the fastest of them all and would always outsmart his rivals.
The sombreros? Many Mexicans wear them with pride every World Cup.
I ❤️ Speedy pic.twitter.com/SKt0DQ8qlr
— Hispanic Citizen (@US_Latino) March 9, 2021
Deadline noted that Pepé originally was in the movie, also known as ‘Space Jam 2,’ when he tries to hit on a woman played by Greice Santo by kissing her arm. She pulls back, slams him into a stool, pours her drink over him, and sends him spinning until the stool is stopped by the hand of LeBron James.
Pepé then is told the rules — that he cannot grab females without their consent.
The scene from the movie, which is scheduled to be released in July, was cut long before Blow put Pepé on his long list of forms of entertainment he did not like.
Santo was the one upset that the scene was deleted, a spokesperson 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 behavior is unacceptable,” the Santo spokesperson said.
Some think all this is a bit much.
“Do you get the feeling the lunatics are running the asylum? That those fringe-dwellers – desperate to be offended on behalf of others – are exerting enormous influence,” Sky News Australia host Rita Panahi said.
“Just this week, much-loved children’s cartoon character Pepé Le Pew was accused of promoting rape culture. Yes, a cartoon skunk got the #metoo treatment,” she said.
Cancelling Pepé even stirred the liberal waters on “The View,” according to Fox News.
Whoopi Goldberg rails against Pepé Le Pew critics: ‘Don’t know why you’ve got to erase everything’ https://t.co/9H7t5bNPrW Blame ourselves. Stand up to these moronic “wokesters”, and that includes all the corporations out there led by wimps!
— Donald Bayer (@Dpirinku) March 13, 2021
“I just heard that they’re taking Pepé Le Pew out of ‘Space Jam,’ and I think to myself, ‘Couldn’t y’all have just written a couple of lines to say, you know, Pepé doesn’t do that anymore because he knows it’s not OK to jump on other skunks who may not be as interested in him as he is interested?'” co-host Whoopi Goldberg said. “I don’t know why you’ve got to erase everything. I don’t get it. I don’t understand it.”
‘Well, nobody likes Pepé Le Pew anyway,” colleague Joy Behar sniped.
“I do!” Goldberg fired back. “I like Pepé!”
Did you know that The Western Journal now publishes some content in Spanish as well as English, for international audiences? Click here to read this article on The Western Journal en Español!
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