Bonkers: Amazon Includes Racism Warning For Tom & Jerry Cartoons

NewsBusters ^ | 10/01/2014 | Matthew Balan

[aomagrat]

Yep. Every time Tom gets caught in an explosion he turns black. Racist for sure.

[Rapscallion]

Racism is in the eye of the BeHolder.

[familyop]

BBC correspondent Sean Coughlan: British genius.

[VanShuyten]

I wonder what the disclaimer is on “The Goofy Gophers” or “Speedy Gonzales”

[william clark]

I assume they’re referring primarily to some of the early ones where Tom’s owner was an Aunt Jemima-type woman.

[MNDude]

I bought the Loony Tunes collection and Whoopie Goldberg started the DVD set with the same warning.

[Sans-Culotte]

Those warnings have been appearing for years on the Looney Tunes DVDs and Blu-rays I have collected. Some of the cartoons actually are racist. I’d rather get the cartoon with a disclaimer rather than get the cartoon with cuts or not get the cartoon at all.

[SparkyBass]

"Is you is, or is you ain't my baby?"

Best episode, ever!

[Sarah Barracuda]

If a cat hits a mouse obviously that is racist/sarc

[Maceman]

I look forward to the day when giant retailers selling books and videos from the past 50 years through current times will put this warning on them:

"XYZ video shorts may depict some left wing totalitarian indoctrination and Commie talking points that were once commonplace in American society. Such depictions were wrong then and are wrong today.'"

[SamuraiScot]

I assume they’re referring primarily to some of the early ones where Tom’s owner was an Aunt Jemima-type woman.

So, they would have preferred it if he was her owner?

[I want the USA back]

White Guilt is metastasizing and expanding. It’s destroying everything that’s a part of American culture.

[ifinnegan]

“I assume they’re referring primarily to some of the early ones where Tom’s owner was an Aunt Jemima-type woman.”

She was the maid.

[Old Yeller]

Goodbye Speedy Gonzales

[MNDude]

The Obama Phone Lady is more of a stereotype than that maid was.

[GraceG]

The more the establishment protests old timey examples of racism the more the youth who are rebellious by nature will latch on to those stereotypes and use them just to be rebellious...

So essentially if they didn’t say anything the would be less youth knowing about it, now the youth are going to search for it because it is taboo and cool...

[MrNJ]

I don’t see anything racist in the T&J cartoons.
But Amazon has the 1st Amendment right to issue whatever warnings they want.
As long as no coercion by any government was involved, more power to them.

[a fool in paradise]

It may not just be Amazon making this pronouncement, check the packaging, I’ve seen similar wording on major studio releases of old cartoons.

[xp38]

They ended the Frito Bandito for sensitive reasons way back.