7)
Director: Chuck Jones (credited as “Charles M. Jones”)
Summary: Just like “Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt” (minus the Oscar nomination), Bugs Bunny squares off against a Native American hunter, only this one is more of a bespectacled nerd than an Elmer Fudd-esque idiot.
Reason Why It Was Banned: The Native American stereotypes.
Does It Deserve It: On the one hand, it’s not as offensive as “Horse Hare.” On the other hand, there’s a lot of stereotypical Native American broken English, as seen in this picture…
…and the part where Bugs clubs the Native American hunter and props him up outside the teepee barbershop like a cigar store Indian might not be considered “in good taste.” But I did find it funny as a kid and now.
Did It Air on TV Despite Being Banned: How else do you think I saw it as a mid-1980s-born, 1990s/early 2000s-raised kid? TBS, TNT (the channel I definitely remember seeing this on), and Cartoon Network in the 1990s were a gold mine of cartoons that weren’t overly un-PC (meaning no Censored Eleven shorts or any of the really heavy WWII cartoons, unless you count “Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips” on Tom and Jerry Funhouse), but aired anyway, so long as no one complained.
Is It Available on Official Release: Its most recent home media release was on the Golden Age of Looney Tunes laserdisc (volume 3, side 10, “Politically Incorrect”) back in 1992. It has aired on television sporadically through the early 1990s, but pretty much has disappeared somewhere between 1993 and 1995, maybe earlier than that. Unless you can find it on websites willing to break copyright law just to get the hidden gems of the Warner Bros animated filmography to the masses, you’re going to have to wait until Warner Bros grows a pair and releases the politically incorrect Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies on DVD, Blu-ray, and maybe 4K if they feel like it.
8)
Director: Chuck Jones (credited as “Charles M. Jones”)
Summary: Thanks to some cotton-picking slaves, Bugs finds himself on a riverboat, and comes face-to-face with Colonel Shuffle, Chuck Jones’ short-lived version of Friz Freleng’s Yosemite Sam, only here, "Sam" is a Southern gentleman and not a raucous, hot-tempered cowboy.
Reason Why It Was Banned: The references to black slavery and the antebellum Southern U.S. (Bugs gets mistaken for cotton by slaves working in a cotton field and singing “Dixie”, Colonel Shuffle is in blackface from an exploding cigar [though that blackface does not look like the offensive kind. The lips aren’t colored white or red], and Bugs tricks Colonel Shuffle into falling off the boat by advertising for a show called Uncle Tom’s Cabinet). There’s also use of the word “jackass,” but Cartoon Network actually let that swear word slide on “Falling Hare” and “A Tale of Two Mice.”
Does It Deserve It: Well, yes, because a lot of people are sensitive about that subject in America. However, the DVD audio commentary for this by Eric Goldberg (who is a Warner Bros cartoon fan, despite mostly working on Disney animation projects, proving that you can like both for entertainment and artistic reasons) does explain that, while the subject matter may be offensive, Jones does manage to make it tasteful (I’m guessing because “Angel Puss” was met with the same kind of disgust and ire back in 1944 that it does in this day and age? Who knows?). The slaves’ faces aren’t shown, so you don’t have to worry about exaggerated lips or unfortunate resemblances to Stepin Fetchit and I mentioned the blackface from the cigar doesn’t have colored lips to complete the look. About the only offensive things would be the slaves singing “Dixie” and the “Uncle Tom’s Cabinet” parts, but, if Cartoon Network can show their version of 1956’s “Wideo Wabbit” where the unfortunately-named You Bet Your Life spoof You Beat Your Wife is digitally altered with all verbal references cut and muted, then “Mississippi Hare” could have squeaked by with similar cuts.
Did It Air on TV Despite Being Banned: It did, but not on Cartoon Network. I have vague memories of seeing this on Nickelodeon uncut and uncensored (and most likely pulled from rotation due to parental complaints or the network realizing how problematic it is), but the old Censored Cartoons Page states that ABC and WB aired it with parts cut, as these videos will demonstrate:
Uncut vs. ABC’s edited version:
Uncut vs. The WB’s version:
Is It Available on Official Release: Yes. Its earliest release was on a 1984 VHS called The Looney Tunes Video Show (volume 9; it was only available in countries that transfer their television and video feeds through PAL rather than NTSC or SECAM, so it wasn’t a Canadian or United States release). Its most recent release is the Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny Golden Carrot Collection, which, actually, is the same copy from the fourth volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection. I recommend that version because it has audio commentary by Eric Goldberg, who, as I said before, loves the cartoon, but understands that it has a lot of problematic historical content that prevents it from being more well-known as an example of how Chuck Jones directed his Bugs Bunny cartoons.
9)
Director: Chuck Jones (credited as “Charles M. Jones”)
Summary: Bugs’ second wrong turn at Albuquerque (and first one under Chuck Jones) sees him at the North Pole, where he must save a penguin (which are South Pole animals, and it’s the same penguin from “8 Ball Bunny,” which came after this) from getting killed by an Inuit (the proper term for an Alaskan Native. “Eskimo” is outdated) hunter.
Reason Why It Was Banned: The Inuit/Alaskan Native hunter, even though the worst Bugs does to him is slap him with a fish, call him a “baboon” and an “Eskimo Pie-head,” and let the Inuit hunter land on the water spout of a passing whale.
Does It Deserve It: No. There’s nothing there that feels like it would be offensive…besides the “Eskimo Pie-head” line.
Did It Air on TV Despite Being Banned: Yes, it did. I remember Nickelodeon airing it uncut (but only once or twice before pulling it), Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends when it was syndicated on local FOX affiliates ran this with light cuts, Cartoon Network and Boomerang showed this in memory of Chuck Jones (also with light cuts) on February 22nd, 2002 and on occasion after that before the Warner Bros cartoons were pulled again. Currently, MeTV airs it uncut, though it’s on rare occasions and not during Toon In With Me.
Here’s a video showing how Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends, and a 1965 airing of The Bugs Bunny Show cut this short:
Is It Available on Official Release: Yes again. While it’s mostly seen on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection (volume one) and any and all repackaged versions of it, it is on three UK-based video collections and a laserdisc dedicated to Warner Bros cartoons associated with traveling and visiting other countries.
10)
Director: Friz Freleng (credited as “I. Freleng”)
Summary: In an African jungle, a witch doctor named I.C. Spots is short on rabbit for his latest potion, so he goes out looking for one. At the same time, Bugs finds himself at the corner of Huba-Huba and Kuka-Munga and literally flips himself to see where he’ll go next. Sure enough, he picks Kuka-Munga and runs afoul of Dr. Spots.
Reason Why It Was Banned: The strange non-white natives (pretty sure they’re supposed to be from the Zulu tribe, but they don’t look it).
Does It Deserve It: I…guess so, but only because the cartoon is painfully average, compared to the other cartoons that came out in 1949. Then again, worse cartoons than this have aired on American television (and released on official and unofficial home media) and 1949 was more of Chuck Jones’ year than it was Friz Freleng (despite “High-Diving Hare” being his best work that year for Bugs and Yosemite Sam), Robert McKimson (despite “Rebel Rabbit” being his best Bugs Bunny short that year), or Arthur Davis (especially Davis, since this was his last year as director, with “Bowery Bugs” as his best and only Bugs Bunny cartoon).
Did It Air on TV Despite Being Banned: It did, if you can believe it. CBS in the 1980s aired it as part of The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show and cut the part where Dr. I.C. Spots forces Bugs into his hut, then locks him in his cauldron with a pressure cooker lid, where Bugs screams for help as he’s nearly being boiled alive (this was also the version that aired on Cartoon Network in Japan. I don’t know if Japan had the same rules against showing characters in distress as CBS did in the 1980s or if this was the only copy they could find). Nickelodeon also aired this in the early 1990s (maybe also the late 1980s when Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon was a Nick at Nite show instead of a daytime kids’ show? It has the feel of that kind of cartoon). Their version left in the cauldron part, but cut Bugs using plates and a spring to pose as a native as he flees Dr. Spots.
As always, here’s a video re-enactment (forgive some of the small, grammatical errors on the title cards. I did this in a hurry):
Is It Available on Official Release: It came close to being released on the “Bugs Bunny: Hare Extraordinaire” volume of the Looney Tunes Super Stars DVD collection, but, Warner Home Video executives withdrew it while the collection was being planned out (which is a shame, because I would love to see this remastered on DVD). As of this writing, it hasn’t been released anywhere, which surprises me, because you’d think this at least would have been part of a 1990s VHS or laserdisc collection in America or was only available on home media releases in other countries where stereotypical depictions of other races and ethnicities that aren’t theirs are more-or-less allowed.
11)
Director: Robert McKimson
Summary: Helping an Italian balloon salesman in the park and an off-screen mix-up with a stork (who’s actually sober here) sends Bugs on an unplanned trip to Australia, where a mother kangaroo and an Aboriginie (who actually looks somewhere between Southern Italian and Middle Eastern [I want to say Lebanese, since he kind of looks like current (as of this writing) Saturday Night Live cast member, Emil Wakim]) both go after Bugs for different reasons.
Reason Why It Was Banned: The Aboriginie hunter, of course. However, I don’t understand why America would care about the stereotypical/inaccurate portrayal of an Australian indigenous person…unless June Bugs was going to be a global event, which, yeah, would explain why most of the banned Bugs Bunny 12 would be pulled. When you consider that there are Bugs Bunny cartoons that had worse racial content and were allowed to air (like “Southern Fried Rabbit,” which was shown, but had parts cut to remove any black slavery references or references to the Confederate flag or “A-Lad-In a Lamp,” which had a lot of stereotypical depictions of Middle Easterners), you have to wonder why this one stuck in Time-Warner AOL’s collective craw.
Does It Deserve It: I’m on the fence about this one. Yeah, the primitive native angle might be offensive (especially the “Unga-bunga” part, which, from what I’ve been reading in YouTube comments, is most people’s favorite part), but this is on the light side of being racially/ethnically insensitive...unless you live in Australia and are put off by the harsh treatment of the natives.
Did It Air on TV Despite Being Banned: It did and, as of this writing, still does on occasion. I remember seeing this (uncut?!) on ABC (double ?!) as a kid, though the only parts that stood out from the haze of my childhood memories were “Nature Boy” (Bugs’ name for the Aboriginal native) trying to shoot Bugs with a red ball through a bamboo shoot, but Bugs gets the drop on him and blows it back in his mouth, causing Nature Boy to go green from sickness; the hole-in-the-ground stabbing part that was edited for sadistic violence (even though it was played for comedy) on Nickelodeon; and Nature Boy and Bugs fighting in the mother kangaroo’s pouch (which is actually a womb, complete with womb slime and wouldn’t fit anything or anyone else in there except other joeys, as seen on the Simpsons episode “Bart vs. Australia” and the cold open to the Family Guy episode “Screwed the Pooch”). On top of that, Cartoon Network did air “Bushy Hare” -- as part of the June Bugs from 2000 (“Which is Witch” is also in that same boat of airing on June Bugs 2000 before getting banned in 2001). I would ask how did Cartoon Network let that slip, but they’re notorious for that. Now, it airs on MeTV’s classic cartoon compilation show, Saturday Morning Cartoons (not the most imaginative name, but it does deliver what it promises) and joins “What’s Cookin’, Doc?” and “Frigid Hare” as the only Banned Bugs Bunny 12 shorts to air on MeTV.
Here's an approximation of how Nickelodeon edited this short. I am fully aware this is a copy from MeTV (that’s proof that it did air on that network uncut and uncensored):
Is It Available on Official Release: Prior to 2010, no. After 2010, it appeared on the Looney Tunes Super Stars DVD collection (“Bugs Bunny: Hare Extraordinaire”) and all repackaged versions of it (“Looney Tunes Super Stars Three Pack” and “Looney Tunes Super Stars Family Multi-Feature,” both of which include the discs from the “Foghorn Leghorn and Friends: Barnyard Big Mouth” and “Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote: Supergenius Hijinks”), which is odd, because “Which Is Witch” also has non-white native stereotypes in it and that got banned. It also was on HBO Max (n.k.a “Max”), but only on the Latin American feed and only between the years 2021 and 2024.
12)
Director: Friz Freleng (actually credited under that name)
Summary: In 1886, Bugs Bunny is assigned to watch Fort Lariat while his superior and his men are in training. The rest of the cartoon is Bugs fighting back against Native Americans led by redheaded, white man Yosemite Sam (called “Renegade Sam” here).
Reason Why It Was Banned: The Native American stereotypes, and they’re more problematic here than in the other cartoons on this list, with Yosemite Sam as a white man leading a tribe of Native Americans in attacking a fort probably the most problematic aspect of it. However, the chief does think he's a bumbling idiot, so...I guess it's not all glamorizing, just pointing out that something like this did happen in history (or how entertainment of the time interpreted this history).
Does It Deserve It: By the uptight, personal standards of American political correctness, it does…and, just like “Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips,” it’s not hard to see why. Bugs plugging Native Americans while singing “Ten Little Injuns” and cutting one tally mark down because “Dat one was a half-breed” (someone born from an interracial pairing, usually used for half-white European, half-Native American people, but it’s been used for other racial pairings pejoratively. The most popular: if you’re half-black and half-white) is really not something kids should see on (alleged) family-friendly viewings of the Looney Tunes cartoons.
Did It Air on TV Despite Being Banned: Not as much as the ones that were allowed to air, but it did see some airtime…with some edits done. Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends cut the entire “Ten Little Injuns” part while Nickelodeon left it in, but stopped at “Six little Injuns,” removing the infamous “half-breed” line and Bugs kicking a Native American warrior in the face from behind as he finishes his song. There is a recreated edit video I snagged from the Internet that shows that, ideally, the Nickelodeon edit should have just cut the short scene of Bugs cutting his tally mark in half while saying his “half-breed” line while keeping the rest of the sequence intact. Between you, me, and a coconut tree, I did picture that being the way Nickelodeon cut it and was disappointed when I saw another video (which I didn’t snag from the Internet) that showed that, no, that wasn’t the case. Oh, and Nickelodeon used clips of it for one of their promos for Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon (the one where "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" is sampled as a 1990s rap remix. That's my favorite one...or, at least, the one I remember most from childhood).
Let’s go to the online video (not videotape, because this is 2025 and VCRs and VHSes aren’t sold much unless it’s eBay).
Is It Available on Official Release: Its only official releases are on a Super 8 and as part of the Looney Tunes Video Show VHS collection (the 12th volume, which isn’t even an American/NTSC release) from 1984. As of this writing, there's no restored and remastered version that I'm aware of, nor has it been released on any DVD or Blu-ray, which is a shame, because it easily could have been on the Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Blu-ray (all of them could, since Warner Home Media sells the Looney Tunes cartoons to collectors and put warnings on it about the content that may be offensive to modern sensibilities, but is going to be shown uncut anyway for historical reasons). I don’t know where the video version I found online came from (it could have been from a rare, uncut TV viewing, but there are no station identification bugs on the side of the screen).
Conclusion
So, what have we learned from all of this? Well...
- We learned that American censorship is very hypocritical, with Cartoon Network being the perfect example of that. While these cartoons were pulled for content, others, like “Southern Fried Rabbit,” “Sahara Hare,” and “A-Lad-In A Lamp” were shown (with “Southern Fried Rabbit” edited for content. Why couldn’t the same have been done for “Mississippi Hare,” since there is proof that it can be done?). And that’s not getting into how some of the Banned Bugs Bunny 12/Twelve Missing Hares aired on other networks (some edited, some not) and even Cartoon Network aired some of them in the late 1990s up until the year 2000. The Looney Tunes Fandom wiki does hint that most of the blame is on AOL Time Warner getting cold feet because of how bad for business it would be and not Cartoon Network just following orders. That does kind of explain Cartoon Network’s censorial hypocrisy, but I prefer my take where they’re either idiots or making due with whatever copies they have (as revealed on the review/commentary for “Drip Along Daffy” and a random YouTube comment about the popular edited version of “Gonzales’ Tamales”).
- We learned that the Looney Tunes cartoons weren’t meant for children, a lesson I learned after watching the 1953 Pepe Le Pew cartoon “Wild Over You” (I guess I should be glad it wasn’t 1954’s “The Cats Bah.”), but I feel that other viewers can learn the same lesson with some Bugs Bunny cartoons, since Bugs is a more mainstream popular character while Pepe Le Pew is more cult popular (especially with the latter character being canceled).
- We learned about American TV cuts and where to find the missing and rarely-seen cartoons uncut and uncensored, which is a recurring lesson in this blog.
