Charles Blow of the New York Times takes Pepe Le Pew seriously as a rapist

It’s like he doesn’t understand that Pepe Le Pew made fun of the stereotype of sleazy, delusional men who think their shit doesn’t stink.

Charles Blow is cute but he's dumb. Just not very bright.

Like M. Le Pew's, Blow's name fits him well.

[quote] It’s like he doesn’t understand that Pepe Le Pew made fun of the stereotype of sleazy, delusional men who think their shit doesn’t stink.

That’s correct but it doesn’t take into account the change in viewership of the WB cartoons. They were originally shorts made for adults before movies. But with TV and the baby boom, massive numbers of children were watching cartoons, typically on Saturday mornings, and kids often don’t get satire quite the same as adults.

He actually (sort of) has a point.

R4 Pepe Le Pew? I wonder if Charles Blow ever listens to the lyrics that popular rappers sing. Lyrics that young kids mindlessly sing along with. And he's worried about Pepe LePew???

Charles Blow will never blame black people for anything R5, so good luck with that.

He's gone out of his way to defend homophobia in the black community many times, even at the expense of other black gay men.

He's one of those "I don't do labels" gays. The self hatred reeks strongly from him.

Pepe Le Pew is literally violence apparently. I think culture just officially died as they work to cancel a 75 year old cartoon character. The world has truly lost its fucking collective mind, the Corona I think did more beyond what it appears to have unleashed..

R6 Agreed.

Our current fucked-up "woke" culture will never cancel this crap. Everybody sing along!:

(of course if white men were the authors....could you imagine!?)

The millions and millions and millions of children watching Pepe le Pew cartoons today on the super-popular "All Pepe LePew, All the Time Show" are being led down the primrose path!

[quote]That’s correct but it doesn’t take into account the change in viewership of the WB cartoons. They were originally shorts made for adults before movies. But with TV and the baby boom, massive numbers of children were watching cartoons, typically on Saturday mornings, and kids often don’t get satire quite the same as adults.

You don't think they showed cartoons in theaters before kids' movies?

And yet, no one seems disturbed at the possibility of cross species sex?

Charles Blow seems very hysterical. His anti-Trump columns were always at 11 even with 10 was enough to get the point accross.

Has Bugs Bunny been cancelled yet?

His penchant for dressing as a woman and forcibly kissing Elmer Fudd is deeply transphobic and contributes to the stereotype of trans women as sexual predators!

TRANS WOMEN ARE BEING MURDERED BECAUSE OF BUGS BUNNY!!!!!

I loved Pepe Le Pew and thought the poor creature's utter cluelessness was hilarious. Doesn't Blow remember all the blows the cat deals poor Pepe? I think he was the physically abused one. Anyway, j't'adore French accents, even on cartoon characters. Also love Foghorn Cleghorn. "Ah say, Ah mean, Ah say there....."

[quote] You don't think they showed cartoons in theaters before kids' movies?

They did but it wasn’t the main reason for the purchase, and it wasn’t the reason WB made the cartoons. They made them for adults and that’s who primarily consumed them. They had a block sale program and they forced the theaters to buy blocks of programming — movies and shorts in a package.

Later, there was a court decision that invalidated this policy and so WB could no longer shrinkwrap the cartoons in with the feature films. So theaters stopped buying the cartoons, and cartoons started being made more for kids and tv.

Once again, these cartoons were not made to be consumed by kids, so the satire wasn’t perceived as such by them.

Charles Blow made a very good mid-six figure salary for about four years writing the same column weekly, just changing the words around slightly "I HATE Trump! I hate him! Oh, do I hate him! He is a bad man and I hate him!"

Not that anyone should be praising Trump, but at least vary it up a little and explain why you hate him this week or what you'd do differently.

Now he's all about how Blacks should move back to the South (he wrote a book about it) and trying to prove to the Woke Young Things at the Times that he's even more Woke than they are.

He's still not as bad as Lesbian Columnist Kara Swisher who thinks her Rich White Woman Problems are universal. (Today she's whining about vaccine distribution, but only as much as it affects here and there's no manager to speak to so she is writing a column about it!)

^^affects her

People can harp on the old studio cartoons all they want. They also forget that without those very cartoon there would be entire generations who would be clueless to things like classical music. I cant hear listen to The Barber of Seville or Carmen without thinking of Warner Cartoons. Ive noticed that is something that is lacking in the younger generation...lack of diversity in their education.

I think Miss Blow knows it's a bit ridiculous, and knows how this is going to be received, but her need for clicks and views is taking precedence over her need to be taken seriously.

[quote] They also forget that without those very cartoon there would be entire generations who would be clueless to things like classical music.

Bitch please.

Blow says Blacks should move to the South to create an new apartheid.

Oh, I didn't know that.

He is a skunk trying to ravage a cat. That is all kinds of wrong. It's not male over powering female. It's a skunk a damned skunk.

r20 Seriously. Children today are rarely taught things like History, Arts, Civics...and usually the exposure is limited. You cant blame teachers because legislatures continually cut funding and dictate the curriculum, instead opting to cover things like Creationism.

Le sigh.

No one who's really "Woke" writes for the NY Times. The same paper that was instrumental in selling the Iraq War? Please.

I loved when someone called him out on his silence over the NY Times endorsing Kloubuchar for President. This was when he was going after Bloomberg on a daily basis, but said zero about Amy, who's failure to charge Derek Chauvin gave Black Lives Matter it's biggest boost ever.

He's only as outspoken as he knows he can get away with. Is he leaving the NY Times to embark on his new idea? Of course not.

Porky Pig has fostered DECADES of humiliating people who are "differently abled" speech-wise.

C-c-c-an-cel P-p-p-porky P-p-pig NOW!

No one better cancel Marvin.

Bugs was also very mean to these poor hill folk.

Most cartoon characters are based on some sort of "flaw", which is what makes them work as cartoons. Who would want to watch a cartoon about a character who does everything as it should be done and takes no chances. Boring.

When I began writing 20 years ago, I read this book. I guess it's not relevant any longer.

[quote] No one who's really "Woke" writes for the NY Times. The same paper that was instrumental in selling the Iraq War?

That was almost twenty years ago. Not the same editorial board, not the same staff.

Didn't they start editing Bugs a long time ago? Much of the violent content has been removed.

[quote]Anyhow - DL already had a thread about Pepe's amorous ways and rape culture in 2020.

Link?

What’s with the constant culture war/agenda threads?

Trying to make liberals appear crazy. This is coordinated with overseas funders. Stop clicking and responding. FF was

[quote]Trying to make liberals appear crazy. This is coordinated with overseas funders.

Oh FFS. Whining about a cartoon character from the 1940s being a rapist IS crazy.

Imagine spending your time looking for offense in cartoons, movies, books, etc. It’s all very fucking tiresome. Where is this going?

R35 Oh will you please just stop it with your conspiracy theories. You're like the left's version of a QAnon believer.

Charles Blow is a prominent NYT columnist writing a silly Twitter post. And we're going to discuss it. If that's too much for you, leave the fucking thread.

All of this “cancel culture” is a hoax being perpetrated by the right wing & a few mental cases on the left. Democrats need to get the message out “Cancel culture is an exaggerated version of the fake moon landing that’s being pushed to make half the population lol like it believes a lot of nonsense.”

Q people are the real nuts.

Something tells me they’ll be coming for Bull and Moose soon.

[quote] No one who's really "Woke" writes for the NY Times. The same paper that was instrumental in selling the Iraq War? Please.

This is what is so frustrating about Datalounge.

It's as if time stopped and we've all been frozen in amber for 20 or 30 years.

The Iraq War was 18 years ago.

The "woke" staffers were in FUCKING KINDERGARTEN back then. (Or at least elementary school)

I've watched hundreds if not hours of Looney Toons and I've yet to chase/molest a female cat, or eat a canary, or drop an Acme anvil on a road runner, or "shoot the wabbit".

Why?

Because they're cartoons and not real life. And, I'm intelligent and was intelligent enough as a 5 year old to get you don't/can't drop anvils on animals/people.

Charles Blowhard is just looking for some 20 minute fame.

NY Times is shitrag journalism. The Iraq War was just the most egregious example. They've kissed Trump's ass many times over the last four years.

Dave Chapelle did this as a joke over a decade ago.

Just wait til you hear what he has to say about Daffy Duck....

r6 Wrong. He is very clear about his label (annoyingly so); bisexual. How you think he is a 'no label gay' when he is a) married to a woman, and b) not gay!

R5

This Blow cretin liked “WAP” but thinks Pepe le Pew is dangerous?

The Left is a joke.

R35

So called “liberals” are doing this on their own dime.

Don’t blame Republicans for the fact that the Left has gone insane.

Charles Blow has an *ex* wife, r46. They divorced in 2000, he came out as bisexual in 2014.

[quote]I've watched hundreds if not hours of Looney Toons and I've yet to chase/molest a female cat, or eat a canary, or drop an Acme anvil on a road runner, or "shoot the wabbit".

LOL.

[quote]Link?

I searched "Pepe Le Pew"

Pepe LePew has always been inappropriate and rapey. I don't buy that it's "satirical" or "ironic." All the same, Pepe LePew is very funny. I guess sometimes rape IS funny. #SorryNotSorry

Here's a thread from 2017.

You bitches were on it!!

These cartoons were not made exclusively for adults or children. In the 40's and 50s, most movies were attended by all ages. Kids who went to the movies then were definitely fans of these cartoons. Bugs and all the WB cartoon characters were popular with kids. At the same time the cartoons were popular with, sophisticated enough for, adults. Mel Blanc was great and had a lot to do with why the characters were funny to the ear.

So because the author is black, he has no right to say anything about this subject because RAP MUSIC!!!

Wow. Love how those "hoodlum thug rappers" are the still the go to for Datalounge's racists.

[quote]This is what is so frustrating about Datalounge.

It's as if time stopped and we've all been frozen in amber for 20 or 30 years.

The Iraq War was 18 years ago.

The "woke" staffers were in FUCKING KINDERGARTEN back then. (Or at least elementary school)

So the staffers of the New York Times are all in their early 20s? Was George W. Bush in fucking kindergarten then, too?

R55 glad someone said it. Thank you.

Sorry, this is what should have been in quotes:

[quote]This is what is so frustrating about Datalounge. It's as if time stopped and we've all been frozen in amber for 20 or 30 years. The Iraq War was 18 years ago. The "woke" staffers were in FUCKING KINDERGARTEN back then. (Or at least elementary school)

[quote]Something tells me they’ll be coming for Bull and Moose soon.

Who?

I'm NOT gay. I'm bisexual with THREE kids - all graduates of top universities.

"Imagine spending your time looking for offense in cartoons, movies, books, etc. It’s all very fucking tiresome. Where is this going? "

Or rap music. Where IS this going?

As someone posted on another platform (and I paraphrase), "What can you expect from a "woke" cultuew that reassigns the gender of a plastic potato?"

*cultuew = culture

[quote]This is what is so frustrating about Datalounge. It's as if time stopped and we've all been frozen in amber for 20 or 30 years. The Iraq War was 18 years ago. The "woke" staffers were in FUCKING KINDERGARTEN back then. (Or at least elementary school)

And no one has cared about Pepe Le Pew for the last 70 years, but that didn't stop Charles Blow.

[quote]People can harp on the old studio cartoons all they want. They also forget that without those very cartoon there would be entire generations who would be clueless to things like classical music.

Pepe Le Pew being a serial rapist is okay because some unrelated cartoons used opera music?

People spending their weekend defending Pepe Le Pew over, what, some guy's opinion in a few tweets? How delicate are you guys?

It's funny that DL on weekends is almost nothing but you whiny rightwingers, nothing better to do on the weekend than cry about "woke culture" on a forum no one goes to anymore, I guess.

All you need to know about Blow's self-loathing is that he "blames" his "homosexual desires" on the fact that he was "molested" (his words) when he was 10 or 11 by a slightly older friend/cousin - his autobiography could have been written by Focus on the Family. I don't think he has ever had a proper relationship with another man besides hookups and he really hates gay men.

This is why some people, no matter what, will never vote for a Democrat. 2022 will be interesting.

I had to unfollow Charles Blow on Twitter. He's humourless and condescending.

[quote]Pepe Le Pew being a serial rapist...

Uh...sweetie...Pepe Le Pew is a cartoon character from LOONEY TUNES.

Yeah, he has very limited views on the gay community that show his lack of understanding.

I've read his article on how Hollywood forces black men into dresses against their will, and was surprised that he completely ignored entertainers like Rupaul, Sylvester and Little Nas X, who have broken ground as African American gender benders. It was just one long pointless screed about how black men have to be humiliated by white men to make it in Hollywood. As if anyone is forcing Tyler Perry and Jamie Foxx into dresses.

Bell Hooks is a much, much better writer in terms of gay issues and covered this same area with a lot more depth and understanding.

It’s almost as if you’ve to be somewhat unintelligent to be Woke, as it means a complete inability - or is it an unwillingness - to reckon with things slightly complicated like context, nuance, irony, parody, or INTENTION.

R18 Erm... Carmen is a George bizet (French), opera before being in the cartoon, so you are asking them for too much. This generation education is scary. Very scary. The other day I was reading one of these Genz z explain that Ravel's bolero (another Frenchman), could incite men to commit rape and that this should be cancelled. I first thought it was a joke, but no, this person was extremely serious. I believe that the "Woke" are mentally ill, which some politicians use.

Cancelled in one, two, three....

[quote]Pepe Le Pew being a serial rapist

MARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pepe Le Rapiste.

recently, they also wanted to cancel Beethoven. And a few years before that they said he was a black man. Beethoven was a German guy. How ridiculous. European are laughing at America

[quote] This is why some people, no matter what, will never vote for a Democrat.

They have and keep doing so. Have you been in a coma? This writer is not a politician. I don’t know why people think politics is going to stop annoying insufferable people like this writer. It won’t. You vote based on issues, not your annoying next door neighbor.

[quote] So because the author is black, he has no right to say anything about this subject because RAP MUSIC!!!

Someone said he wrote pieces defending rape music. So if true, yes, it’s relevant and hypocritical.

This writer is 50 years old. lol

I expect this type of foolishness from someone in their 20s.

I never knew until today that the cat is female. Ever since I was a kid I thought the cat was male. I thought that was the humor of it. If the cat is female, then I don’t get it. Cross-species relationships in a cartoon don’t seem noteworthy.

I'm wondering what Charles Blow's gay sex life is like. Twinks, white boys, femmes, thugs, Latinos, Asians, nothing in particular? He seems like he'd have super narrow preferences.

[quote] Europeans are laughing at America

Europe produced The Enlightenment and we are dragging in a New Dark Ages.

France produced 'Charlie Hebdo' and those other people from the Dark Ages murdered 'Charlie Hebdo' .

More fodder for the anti-woke crowd to scream about. We've got right-wing fascists actively working to destroy the country from within, and this stupid bullshit is what we talk about here.

We're facing global warming, water sources drying up, wide scale homelessness, and a very precarious economy, and major publications think Pepe Le Pew and Dr. Suess are the important subjects of the day? We are doomed.

R82 France produced both. The Enlightenment century " Les lumières", started in France ( Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Beaumarchais , Montesquieu),etc.. They were opposed to obscurantism so what you say is so true!

"Enlightenment. The century is intended to be illuminated by the metaphorical light of knowledge — not divine enlightenment, "emanation of the absolute," used exclusively in the singular — acquired by the experience and teaching of the past. It also suggests a Manichean view of the world, where the "enlightened man" opposes the mass of those who remained in darkness. The formula therefore has both a social and spatial dimension. Under the pen of philosophers, the "Enlightenment" refers by metonymy to the European elites open to novelties, a "Republic of Enlightened Letters".

[quote] Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Beaumarchais , Montesquieu),etc

I suspect the coming generations will NOT be including Mr Blow with them.

It isn't complicated... Miss Thang is coping badly with who she is. In addition to being a high strung idiot.

[quote] these cartoons were not made to be consumed by kids,

I beg to disagree.

Blowhard.

I was laying in my bed the other morning channel-surfing and came across a Pepe Le Pew cartoon on MeTV. Watching it I immediately thought "Wow, this is probably not going to go over well today." Though I wasn't personally offended by it (I've always loved all of the WB cartoons, including Pepe, and still do), that is what occurred to me.

Yosemite Sam = White Male Privilege

They've also taken away Elmer Fudd's shotgun.

This bullshit really keeps people like Blow (and his readers) up at night!

Such embarrassing gibberish even for Twitter.

Sadly, the Wokeists are rapidly disproving the long-held - and once true - belief that Liberals are better educated and more intelligent...

[quote]They've also taken away Elmer Fudd's shotgun.

But he's hunting wabbits. Depicting hunting in a cartoon is banned, now?

How can Bugs or Daffy be in any danger from Elmer if he doesn't have a gun?

What is the danger to kids? Can they get shot through the TV screen?

r82/r85 The Enlightenment is no longer held up as any sort of ideal among many progressives because it represents oppressive Western ideals, an obsession with "reason" at the expense of other "ways of knowing," a conflation of this "reason" with "white and male," epistemic violence, etc etc etc.

Pepe

Le Pew is now

Assaulted by the same people who did

Nothing to stop the sales of Mein Kampf on eBay but went after

Dr. Seuss instead.

Everything that actually

Makes America great

Is under attack, and it's

Concerning me greatly that this will end in tears. Or worse.

I remember when this guy first came to the NYT. After looking at the first column of his that I saw I decided that I wasn't going to read him.

I haven't read this bitch in years. Hysterical, sour prophet of doom.

R97, are you suggesting that the Theodor Geisel estate is responsible for letting Mein Kampf be sold on eBay? It’s also available on Amazon, as it is a historical text, and the proceeds go to Holocaust survivors.

You seem extremely confused.

The thought control left is more dangerous that the thought control right right now. Attempts to muzzle popular culture from the right are seen as jokes. But woke control requires 24/7 obedience or you’re finished.

Mr. Blow has the best BDF in the tri-state. Would love to see him getting it on with Andrew Gillum another self hating man.

We are NOT going to cancel Pepe Le Pew! This bullshit has officially gone too far.

People who are excessively into identity politics have no sense of humor. It's a lethal flaw.

[quote]The thought control left is more dangerous that the thought control right right now.

I totally disagree. The thought control left isn't spreading a massive lie about a stolen election in an attempt to overthrow democracy, disenfranchise millions of voters, and hand this country over to a would-be dictator with a psychotic cult at his beck and call, so I think we still need to keep these things in perspective.

This is the article that should get him fired and the editor removed. This is just embarrassing. Complaining about a cartoon from a million years ago and blaming rape on it.

R105, they’re both awful. Both sides need therapy and need to grow the hell up.

R90, 80 year olds watch MeTV, not kids.

Who still subscribes to The New York Times? It sold the Iraq war, outing covert agents, stumping for Trump, and now is no better than The New York Post. They hired a white supremacist a few years ago. It’s a joke of a paper.

You know how much money there is in starting a network that goes totally anti-PC with its programming? Where’s Murdoch when you need him? I’m telling you this is going to swing the other way before long with people sick and tired of hearing this bs. It’s one thing for people to offer a stupid opinion, it’s another when companies actually listen to them and cater to their stupid views. Twitter is not real life but these companies think that it is.

Mr. Blow has been a delicate sensitive snowflake for a very long time now, leave him alone or he might melt. Shame on you all.

He has a job for life. Can you imagine the tantrum if the NYT woke up one day and fired her?

It is time we establish The Land of Woke and banish dumb asses like Blow there.

Per usual, the female voice is silenced. No one asked Penelope her take on this. A bunch of mostly white gay men criticizing a black gay man about an issue that demands a female voice- typical DL misogyny. A masquerade of "second tier" wokeness - spitting invectives at "woke" opinions, when you're really just demanding wokeness on your own, custom terms -- while cementing the white male patriarchy. Kudos.

You're ALL canceled - Charles Blow, Pepe Le Pew, Datalounge - ALL OF IT!

I heard they want to ban Fahrenheit 451 next.

[Quote] Who still subscribes to The New York Times? It sold the Iraq war,

That's when I stopped reading it.

[quote]A bunch of mostly white gay men criticizing a black gay man

If it was a white, straight man, or a woman, we surely wouldn't be criticizing this at all, right?

It's a skunk, erroroneouly thinking a cat with an accidental white streak down her bank, is another skunk he is romantically pursuing.

Turning a cartoon kids from 50+ years ago into "woke" and #MeToo targets is rather extreme.

^back, not bank

& erroneously, oops^

Charles Blow is an idiot.

R116, that's when I started seeing the bullshit that is the NYTs. I was going to the many, very well attended anti-war protests in NYC and DC. The NYTs was either not covering them, lied about the attendance numbers or denigrated the protestors, meanwhile doing the evil Saddam bit constantly. Since about 2016 the propaganda and lies are so blatant, it's no longer even interesting.

What amazes me is that so many supposedly educated people read this shit and believe it, believe it all!!!

[quote] I think culture just officially died as they work to cancel a 75 year old cartoon character.

Who the hell are "they"? ONE writer complained about Pepe Le Pew and most readers disagreed with him. The cartoon's not getting cancelled and nobody but Blow is trying to cancel it, unless by "cancelled," you mean simply that somebody somewhere said something mean about it in public—which pretty much does seem to be the definition that the "omg, cancel culture!" hysterics here are working with.

It’s sad that the nation’s paper of record publishes such poorly thought out, simplistic crap. I thought NY was supposed to be sophisticated.

At least intellectuals are slowly coming to a better appreciation of Wile E. Coyote

[quote] I totally disagree. The thought control left isn't spreading a massive lie about a stolen election in an attempt to overthrow democracy, disenfranchise millions of voters, and hand this country over to a would-be dictator with a psychotic cult at his beck and call, so I think we still need to keep these things in perspective.

Nah, the thought control left is just insisting that men can be women if they really, really want to be and you’re a bigot for pointing out reality doesn’t work that way.

Blow eats at a local diner in my neighborhood and is not well thought of by the Mexican wait staff. I overheard one tell the other he is "la pretenciosa" not a compliment.

Charles Blow is a Karen.

It is a cartoon but as a young girl I always had a negative visceral reaction to the cartoon as I was moved by by the horror that poor cat was experiencing. For me the discomfort of her far outweighed the humor they were going for.

[quote]Who the hell are "they"? ONE writer complained about Pepe Le Pew and most readers disagreed with him. The cartoon's not getting cancelled

Don't be so sure, R123:

[quote]It is a cartoon but as a young girl I always had a negative visceral reaction to the cartoon as I was moved by by the horror that poor cat was experiencing. For me the discomfort of her far outweighed the humor they were going for.

The discomfort is because he's a SKUNK and he stinks

As a young kid, I thought it was amusing that the cat was going to get buttfucked whether it liked it or not and afterward would be sprayed with skunk stank.

She seems pressed.

R132 You were a very astute child with much to much knowledge of the world before your time.

This idiotic cancel culture needs to stop.

The Looney Tune cartoons are the greatest feats in animation and every character created so very precious.

Pepe Le Pew will long outlive this Charles Blow.

Pepe is not a rapist, he just doesn't understand why anyone would not want him.

This QUEEN is digging up ANYTHING to keep himself relevant.

Do many kids these days even watch the old Looney Toons and Merrie Melodies cartoons from Warner Bros?

Has anyone yet told Mr. Blow that these are just cartoons?

R137, please don't tell me Mr. Blow is gay.

The linked article says the decision to scrub Le Pew was made more than a year ago, not because of Blow's column:

[quote]The news comes one day after it was reported Pepé Le Pew was scrubbed from the upcoming Space Jam 2. And while all that news falls days after a New York Times opinion piece in which the character was said to have "normalized rape culture," the decision to both scrub him from the film and not have him return for TV projects was made more than a year ago. The Times' piece ran in wake of Dr. Seuss Enterprises announcing it would stop publishing six books because of racist and insensitive imagery.

My pussy stinks.

Chuck Jones or someone says, Hey, here's a funny idea, there's this skunk who thinks he's a great lover, y'know, like a Frenchman, someone like Boyer, only he's a skunk so he stinks. Except a skunk doesn't know he stinks. He thinks he smells fine. So there's this poor cat who gets white paint on her, and he thinks she's a lady skunk. And she can't stand how he smells...cute idea, right?

Now: HE'S RAPEY!

Pepe sounds like Andrew Cuomo.

Don’t skunks smell badly to each other? Isn’t that part of the defense, driving off rivals?

Very soon this period of mass-hysteria will be behind us and when it is, people will look back on this time with jaws agape and palm-to-face embarrassment.

A significant percentage of the generation which grew up watching cartoons like Pepe Le Pew (seventeen cartoons from 1945 to 1962) have demonstrated that they are deeply challenged when it comes to issues of consent.

Pepe Le Pew is far from the only example. Bluto/Brutus from the 'Popeye' franchise is another.

Brutus: "C'mon, babe - give us a kiss."

(grabs Olive Oyl, and starts trying to force a kiss on her. Olive struggles.)

Olive: "You keep your hands to you - that's what you are! Help! Popeye!"

[quote]I never knew until today that the cat is female. Ever since I was a kid I thought the cat was male. I thought that was the humor of it. If the cat is female, then I don’t get it. Cross-species relationships in a cartoon don’t seem noteworthy.

R80, when Pepe made his debut as a character ('𝑂𝑑𝑜𝑟-𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝐾𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑦' 1945, as a skunk named Henri), the victim 𝑤𝑎𝑠 a male cat. All of the subsequent cats were female, save for Pepe's cameo appearance in '𝐷𝑜𝑔 𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑' (1954), when he assaulted Sylvester, who had donned a skunk stripe to scare away the dogs.