Elmer Fudd & Yosemite Sam Stripped of Guns for New 'Woke' Looney Tunes
Producers vow remove firearms from cartoon characters to fight U.S. gun violence
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Looney Tunes has announced it is stripping guns from their popular cartoon characters Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd as producers vow to tackle violence in America.
Elmer Fudd will no longer use his rifle to hunt Bugs Bunny in a new "woke" version of the Warner Bros classic Looney Tunes cartoon series on HBO Max.
And Yosemite Sam, who is instinctively described as "gun-toting," will no longer carry his pistols.
The latest change to the iconic animated series is a response to the gun violence in the US, the Telegraph reported.
Historically the toons largely revolve around Fudd’s never-ending chase of Bugs Bunny, with his classic catchphrase, “What’s up, Doc?”
"Wabbit" hunter Fudd gets outsmarted by Bugs at every turn, even though he always carried his trusty shotgun — until now.
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“We’re not doing guns,” Peter Browngardt, executive producer of the new series, told the New York Times.
“But we can do cartoony violence — TNT, the Acme stuff.
"All of that was kind of grandfathered in.”
According to The Daily Mail, frustrated hunter Fudd will still get a scythe to hunt Bugs Bunny instead of his classic firearm.
The series airs on HBO Max and premiered last week.
It features 200 new cartoons starring Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, and Tweety Bird.
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."
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The news sparked a mixed reaction online with some Twitter users suggesting the move was a "snowflake" reaction.
One Twitter user commented: "Elmer fudd without his gun, is like yosemite sam without his moustache."
Elmer fudd without his gun, is like yosemite sam without his moustache pic.twitter.com/IfaFEmDYm2
— Alien McQueen (@Alien_McQueen) June 7, 2020
But others praised the decision, writing: "I love cartoons; always have and I'm a big believer that classic cartoons can teach us a lot about the world views of the era they were made, even if they aren't socially acceptable in a modern era.
"Especially so. So kudos Warner Bros for taking this stance on gun violence."
One Twitter user joked: "I can't believe this needs to be said, but Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd were never responsible gun owners anyway."
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.
