That’s all, folks: New Looney Toons will strip Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam of their rifles and pistols in response to US gun violence – but they will still get knives and TNT to hunt Bugs Bunny
- ‘We’re not doing guns. But we can do cartoony violence’, a producer confirmed
- 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 series airs on HBO Max and premiered last week; it features 200 cartoons
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
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.’
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
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Several titles on Disney+ include the warning that it ‘may contain outdated cultural depictions’ or that it may contain footage of characters smoking.