You'll Never Guess Which Classic Cartoon Now Comes With a Racial Prejudice Warning

Animated series streaming on Amazon has a label that tells viewers that the shorts "may depict some ethnic and racial prejudices"

By Jenna Mullins Oct 01, 2014 6:43 PMTags
Tom and JerryCourtesy Hanna Barbera

Well, here's something you don't see every day.

Amazon Prime Instant Video has slapped a warning label on a classic cartoon series they're currently streaming. But it's not for violence; it's for racial stereotyping.

Tom and Jerry, the cat and mouse duo that was created in 1940, now comes with a disclaimer on Amazon that reads: "Tom and Jerry shorts may depict some ethnic and racial prejudices that were once commonplace in American society. Such depictions were wrong then and are wrong today."

The wording of the disclaimer is similar to the warning that appears on some DVD collections of the cartoon series.

It is believed that the warning is referring to things like the character of Mammy Two Shoes, a black housemaid who often appeared with a musical soundtrack very similar to traditional plantation songs. 

There are also questionable depictions of women, many references to people dressing up in "black face," and instances where the characters are dressed up as "natives" and wearing a grass skirt and bones in their hair while being painted black.

"While the following does not represent the Warner Bros view of today's society, these cartoons are being presented as they were originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming that these prejudices never existed," says Warner Bros., who now owns the rights to the Tom and Jerry series.

Fine, Warner Bros., but what about the obvious celebratoin of animal cruelty?! Leave that s--t to the coyotes and road runners. Plus, there's the blatant agenda pushing of dogs and cats destined to be enemies, when YouTube and Instagram has proved time and time again that puppies and kittens can be friends!

More than 100 shorts starring Tom and Jerry were made in the original series, and the cartoon garnered seven Academy Awards.

Do you think the warning label is needed or unnecessary? Let's discuss. And then next we can talk about how The Little Mermaid is confusing children because how on earth do those Mer people procreate?!

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