Looney Tunes characters, including Elmer Fudd, have been banned from holding guns.
According to Peter Browngardt, who is executive producer of a new series of shorts recently released on HBO Max, the animated franchise will no longer be “doing guns”.
In Looney Tunes shows of old, the hapless Fudd was a big-game hunter usually armed with a shotgun.
However, in response to gun violence in the US, animators working on the new series have ensured that Fudd be more “creative” in his attempts to catch Bugs Bunny.
As a result, he will use a scythe instead of a firearm.
Story editor Jonny Ryan told The New York Times: “We’re going through this wave of ‘anti-bullying, everybody needs to be friends, everybody needs to get along’.
“Looney Tunes is pretty much the antithesis of that. It’s two characters in conflict, sometimes getting pretty violent.”
The new series, commissioned by Warner Bros, will stay true to the spirit of the original series by placing focus on “cartoony violence” and will still include “TNT” and “the Acme stuff”.
These Looney Tunes shorts will be available to stream in the US on new subscription service HBO Max.
