Social Media Users Push to Cancel Miss Piggy In Wake of Pepé Le Pew Controversy Miss Piggy finds herself in Twitter's crosshairs.
By Justin Chan
In the wake of controversy surrounding Pepé Le Pew's removal from Warner Bros' Space Jam sequel, social media users are calling for the cancellation of another popular television character: Miss Piggy.
Users have taken to Twitter to sarcastically — and maybe even seriously — protest Miss Piggy's character, who they say is eerily similar to the Looney Tunes skunk.
The push comes after New York Times opinion columnist Charles M. Blow argued, in a piece about the removal of six Dr. Seuss books, that Pepé Le Pew "normalized rape culture." Blow also contended that Speedy Gonzales, another Looney Tunes character, had friends who "helped popularize the corrosive stereotype of the drunk and lethargic Mexicans."
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Following the publication of Blow's article, the Hollywood Reporter revealed on Monday that Pepé Le Pew — a French skunk introduced to audiences in 1945 and known for making aggressive sexual advances — would be scrubbed from Space Jam 2. The outlet additionally reported that Warner Bros. has no plans to bring the character back, much to the dismay of creator Chuck Jones' family.
That same day, several Twitter users claimed that The Muppets' Miss Piggy should also be cancelled for her abusive treatment of Kermit the Frog.
"Ok! I'm holding Miss Piggy accountable since we're going down this route," one person wrote. "[Excessive] violence towards guests and a variety of Muppets PLUS various examples of sexual harassment toward Kermit the frog."
Ok! I'm holding Miss Piggy accountable since we're going down this route. Exessive violence towards guests and a variety of Muppets PLUS various examples of sexual harassment toward Kermit the frog.
— DESPOP (Des Taylor) (@DESPOPART) March 9, 2021
"What about Miss Piggy?" a user asked Blow on Twitter. "She does the same to Kermit just about, but from the female point of view. We need to get rid of Miss Piggy as well. We need to cancel all cartoons from back in the day cause they all don't fit in today's society. We are all screwed up from watching these."
What about Miss Piggy? She does the same to Kermit just about, but from the female point of view. We need to get rid of Miss Piggy as well. We need to cancel all cartoons from back in the day cause they all don't fit in today's society. We are all screwed up from watching these
— NOLA_P (@nolapivon) March 7, 2021
Other users suggested other characters that should be canceled, including Clifford the Big Red Dog.
"Clifford used steroids to grow and profited off of his illegal drug use," one person joked.
Clifford used steroids to grow and profited off of his illegal drug use. #CancelACartoonCharacter pic.twitter.com/t3dB4IZX9z
— duck named soph (@MissMegaduck) March 8, 2021
There are no updates yet as to whether Walt Disney, which owns The Muppets, plans to, in fact, cancel Miss Piggy.
