June Bugs Minus 12

[Maxie Zeus]

The Wall Street Journal reports that CN will be dropping 12 cartoons it had originally planned to show during "June Bugs" because of concerns about offensive racial images.

Here's the URL for the on-line version of the article: http://interactive.wsj.com/fr/emailt...7609559590.djm

OK, this kind of thing is so regular and expected that it can hardly qualify as news, and there's hardly even a point in throwing in the only proper reaction ( ) such inevitabilities must generate in a true toon fanatic.

One interesting note buried in the article: CN seems pretty keen on showing these (though they ultimately backed away); it's the WB arm of AOL-TW that is fighting to keep them under wraps. I'm strangely cheered by this: Who'da thunk a network would even be tempted into showing them, knowing the risks involved?

[Mr. Obsession]

Well the easy solution would be to put up a legal disclaimer about how the shorts were "a product of the times in which they were created" and such. I wish Warners, Di$ney, and a few others would just do that instead of editing their classic shorts or locking them away in their studio vaults never to be seen again.

But that would be a simple answer, so logically they couldn't do that.

[Maxie Zeus]

Originally posted by Mr. Obsession
Well the easy solution would be to put up a legal disclaimer about how the shorts were "a product of the times in which they were created" and such. I wish Warners, Di$ney, and a few others would just do that instead of editing their classic shorts or locking them away in their studio vaults never to be seen again.

But that would be a simple answer, so logically they couldn't do that.

<Sigh> You're right, of course, and that idea did occur to CN. I quote from the WSJ article:

"To address the disturbing cartoon content and to ensure that kids wouldn't be likely to see them, Cartoon Network planned to run the 12 out of chronological order and late at night. A disclaimer was to scroll across the bottom of the screen during the broadcast: 'Cartoon Network does not endorse the use of racial slurs. These vintage cartoons are presented as representative of the time in which they were created and are presented for their historical value.'"

But they didn't even go for that solution.

What really steams me is that at least some pressure to keep these off the air even came from the AOL-TW CEO, Gerald Levin. You may not recall, but a few years ago Levin got into a huge ruckus with people like William Bennett, defending his company's right (thru its music subsidiary) to issue albums with lyrics that were deemed "offensive" (violent, racist and misogynistic). Levin was quite adamant that where there was artistic merit Time Warner would release such things that were otherwise "offensive."

So what gives now? Has he been beaten into submission? Does he think cartoon lack artistic merit? Or is he just very selective about which pressure groups he pisses off--it's OK to get crossways of the Religious Right, but not OK to get crossways of the Multicultural Left?

[Steelbatz]

First: These new boards are great!. Second: The following Bugs Bunny Cartoon "Frigid Hare" - where Bugs is trying to rescue that cute penguin in the top hat from a stereotypical Eskimo is banned from CN. Why?, I don't know. Oh yeah, it's offensive ain't that a boot in the head? Why is it now that everything is so horrible? I mean this is becoming a nation of thin skinned idiots. I grew up watching Bugs, Daffy, Roadrunner, Porky and the others. It didn't damage me. How bout you? I guess a sense of humor is a bad thing now. No real harm was meant by those long dead cartoonists, what 50 or more years ago. But the cartoons busting on the enemies we were at war with were what was to be expected then. Why should these historic items be locked away forever? Many people today don't know, understand, or care about what happened in the time of WWII, which is a cryin' shame. But hey, we wouldn't to traumatize the kiddies or offend any group of people would we?