THE nation's oldest Hispanic-American civil rights organization has a message for the Cartoon Network: "I want my mouse back. Not Mickey, but Speedy." Posted on 04/03/2002 11:16:21 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
THE nation's oldest Hispanic-American civil rights organization has a message for the Cartoon Network: "I want my mouse back. Not Mickey, but Speedy."
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is calling on the cable channel to show Speedy Gonzales cartoons because "Speedy's a cultural icon. He's a good mouse," according to Gabriela Lemus, director of policy and legislation for LULAC.
The Mexican mouse of Warner Brothers cartoon fame was taken off the air by the Cartoon Network because of what network officials described as excessive smoking and drinking by the cartoon's characters and low viewership.
But concerns over negative stereotypes of Mexicans don't resonate with Lemus.
"Being a Latin American child and watched him my whole life in Latin America as well as the United States, I don't recall ever having any negative connotations with him," she said.
Lemus also noted that Speedy provided something of a role model for some of his less ambitious cartoon peers. "Some of the other mice were not the best of all characters, but (Speedy) always chastised them for being lazy and he always told them to get your act together. I don't [think] he's so bad."
Also working for a return of Speedy is a Hispanic Internet web site that is promoting a petition drive to bring back 'the fastest mouse in all of Mexico.'
The English-language website Hispanic OnLine, which is based in Miami and caters to the interests of Latinos, is promoting a petition drive to get Speedy back on the air.
Hispanic OnLine Associate Editor Virginia Cueto said a recent article on the website about Speedy sparked the petition drive by fans who want him back on the air, and the site is linking visitors to the petition from its homepage.
"We wrote the original story bringing to light the fact that many cartoon fans were unhappy with the Cartoon Network's decision and (fans) started a campaign to bring Speedy back," said Cueto.
According to Cueto, Speedy Gonzales "is one of the very few Latino cartoon characters on the screen and he remains immensely popular. He was popular from the start and he remains popular now throughout the rest of the world. He is even shown in Latin America."
Cartoon Network spokesperson Laurie Goldberg said the cable channel hasn't received the petition yet, but is aware of interest in returning Speedy to the airwaves because of correspondence from viewers.
"We are very aware of it," she said. "We have 8,500 cartoons and as a business, we run which cartoons that we think are appropriate and will get the best ratings."
But according to Goldberg, "There are issues with Speedy."
"We have a large audience of kids and we don't want to put things on that are bad for kids. Some Hispanic stereotypes - some people may find offensive and some people may not," she said. "There's a lot of smoking and drinking and shooting in some of those cartoons and there are a lot of parents that prefer that we don't show cartoons that have a lot of smoking, drinking and shooting."
Cueto thinks the Cartoon Network's decision not to air Speedy because he could offend some people may have been laudable, but she said Latin fans of the cartoon are saying "no one consulted us. We are not offended by this cartoon. We want him back."
An un-scientific survey seems to support Cueto's observations. The website Wednesday began an opinion poll on whether Speedy should be on TV and participants are overwhelmingly saying yes. "Our poll shows that 85 percent of our visitors are in favor of Speedy," she said.
But Goldberg emphasized that the Cartoon Network is "a business. We're not a library and we're not a public service and as a business, we do what we think is best to serve our customers."
Wow, thanks a lot! I guess that is the ONLY way to get things done anymore, get a minority group to complain about something. Lord knows they won't listen to the Majority anymore!!!
WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Then I guess seeing "Fritz the Cat" on Cartoon Network is out of the question.
Earlier I said Clinton would be pissed to see Carter go to Cuba, maybe the Speedy cut-off was an outside recommendation?
A boycott could help cartoon network rethink what is best to serve customers.
Don't they know that the "PC police" will tell them precisely when to be offended and when not to be offended? They obviously don't know what's good for them.
What I do see is the people whom Speedy supposedly maligned saying that there's nothing there, no insult.
You shouldn't make up controversy where there is none to begin with. The "minority" responded to an allegation made about them, who do you think is in a better position to answer the question of whether Speedy is offensive to Hispanics or not?
Who wants to watch a cartoon about a smelly, French, lecherous womanizer?
-PJ
Antonio Banderas, Jennifer Lopez, Cameron Diaz, Andy Garcia, Gloria Estefan, Penelope Cruz...
"How about used as the focus of a news story?"
In South Florida? Every hour of every day.
"The central character of an evening show of any kind?"
Now you got me, I don't watch that much TV, so I can't answer that.
I don't know how you relate your point to my post, please clarify.
hmmm
"An American Family" on PBS... I watched a couple of episodes, and it was all right. Sort of a hispanic Waltons, updated with contemporary issues, of course.
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