By Julia Musto for Fox News June 13 2020
“Media Buzz” host Howard Kurtz told “America’s Newsroom” Friday that while Americans should be more sensitive during a period of “national agonizing over racism and police brutality,” so-called “cancel culture” is “clearly spinning out of control” if the target is a squad of cartoon canines.
“Look, I’d say this was ‘Looney Tunes,’ but then Bugs Bunny might get canceled and that Elmer Fudd with the shotgun — clearly excessive violence,” Kurtz joked to Ed Henry days after Warner Bros announced it would disarm Fudd in a new “Looney Tunes” cartoon series on HBO Max.
Kurtz described a bleak future for works that could find themselves subject to “cancellation” in the future, pointing to HBO’s momentary decision to pull “Gone With the Wind” from the HBO Max film library. The 1939 film has long been accused of glorifying slavery in the American South.
HBO has since promised to return the film to its streaming service alongside “a discussion of its historical context and a denouncement of” its racist depictions.
Clark Gable, left, and Vivien Leigh in a scene from “Gone with the Wind.” (Turner Classic Movies via AP)
.
“It’s absurd. It’s a product of its time,” Kurtz remarked. “Where it’s going is, I’m afraid, that old books, old plays, old songs could end up being trashed because somebody today is offended.”
“Should radio stations be barred from playing ‘[The Lady] is A Tramp?’” he asked. “I mean, it does reach levels of absurdity that I think don’t match the serious discussion we are trying to have in the wake of the tragic killing of George Floyd.”
However, Kurtz added that one debate that should be take seriously concerns Confederate symbols.
Read more HERE.
