Retro Saturday Morning: I Love Speedy Gonzales!

 In a week where a bunch of morons with no sense of humor opted to try and destroy our fond childhood memories by demonizing Pepe Le Pew (a cartoon skunk) I thought it was time to draw a line in the sand before another beloved cartoon character is attacked. 

I am of course talking about the fastest mouse in all Mexico. It seems that some people weren't satisfied with just Pepe, oh no, they quickly turned their attention to Speedy Gonzales. Sparked by a comment in a New York Times article by Charles M Blow:

"Speedy Gonzales, whose friends helped popularize the corrosive stereotype of the drunk and lethargic Mexicans..."

 Blow also went after other cartoon characters and even the bible, so Speedy wasn't the only thing that the writer finds offensive.

It should also be noted that many point to Blow's opinion piece as the reason that Warner Bros was quick to cancel Pepe Le Pew.

One columnist sees racism everywhere and now we can't have one of our most beloved cartoon characters. That's how it works in the world today.

I was tempted to post an article about how Pepe was an LGBTQIA trailblazer due to the fact that he came out as a skunk who was attracted to cats who identified as skunks in the 1940s when that just wasn't acceptable, but thought better of it. 

It may have come to the surprise of the online vigilantes who were gearing up to save mankind from a cartoon mouse who has been around since 1953 that it was the Hispanic population that first stood up to defend him.

Actor and comedian Gabriel Iglesias, who is set to be the voice of Speedy in the upcoming Space Jam: A New Legacy, went to Twitter to voice his support.

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 7, 2021

Quickly other Latinos began to chime in expressing how they actually loved the character and didn't find it in any way racist.

Speedy Gonzales is the hero in the cartoons if you may remember. Kind of a Robin Hood character who always saved the other mice from a menacing cat, normally Sylvester. He always got all the cheese and all the girls and the other mice loved him.

Since he always was a hit with the ladies maybe Cancel Culture was worried he acting a little to much like Pepe Le Pew off camera?

It was brought to my attention by my wife Terri that it wasn't actually Speedy that was the problem, it was his cousin Slowpoke Rodriquez (The slowest mouse in all Mexico) that was the problem.

He, not Speedy, was the 'stereotype of the drunk and lethargic Mexican' that Blow had a problem with. Sadly for the writer he missed the joke completely. If Speedy was the fastest mouse then naturally his cousin needed to be the slowest.

That's the joke.

Slowpoke wasn't a drunk or lazy, he was just slow.

It should be pointed out that if you look at a character like that and think that he's just another drunk and lazy Mexican you may want to evaluate how you view people of other nationalities. 

Let's watch some potentially offensive material:

The bottom line is simply that if Hispanics aren't offended by that, why should anyone else be?

I really question why anyone would choose to devote their time to search through cartoons made decades ago trying to find offensive material to complain about. 

I'm sure that there is a better use for your time like getting a life.

Check Out:

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