Pepe Le Pew Was Italian in France
After nearly 70 years, Pepe Le Pew was dropped from the Looney Tunes cast in 2021. It turns out that a cartoon whose only gag is to pursue a woman incessantly who vehemently refuses to be around him before forcing himself on her when he captures her is not really appropriate. Prior to that, however, several individuals did ponder how a cartoon that appears to ruthlessly criticize the French could have persisted for so long. Even so, what did the French think?
It seems that very few French people were unaware of the problem. Pepe Le Pew was Italian in France, not at all French. . In order to make fun of clichés of a different culture and language, actor Francois Tavares performed the French dub of Pepe le Putois, which translates to "polecat," for French audiences.
Mind you, this wasn't done to avoid offending the French. How is it possible? The joke would be destroyed if they encountered a character with a French accent; it wouldn't be at all offensive. Pepe had to adopt a new accent in France otherwise the joke would be lost. They ultimately decided on Italian because he was a seducer and it also fits the sexy stereotype.
