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'Tom & Jerry' no longer smoking icons (but aunty still is)

Posted on Aug 22nd 2006 5:54PM by Sarah Gilbert

Filed Under: Celebs & Entertainment, Nutrition & Supplements

tom & jerry I know that I breathed a huge sigh of relief this weekend. Phew. My kids have lost their last icons of bad behavior! I thought. Tom and Jerry, that eponymous animated cat and mouse duo, are destined never to smoke again.

Yes! It is sarcasm. Boomerang has chosen to selectively edit the cartoon episodes where smoking in Tom & Jerry is seen as "condoned, acceptable or glamorised," according to the BBC. Turner Broadcasting, which airs Boomerang in the U.S., is considering following suit. Not up for review? The bonking with a frying pan, the falling out a second-story window, none of these are seen as dangerous. But the cat, when it's smoking a cigar while playing tennis, now that's a bad example.

As a commentator on BBC World Service last night said, there's a lot more disturbing on TV. He was more concerned about the plethora of ED ads, while I'm highly uncomfortable that my 15-month-old will stop breastfeeding to watch those pipe people plug bladder control drugs. Do you think cartoon creatures from the 1950s are influencing your children's propensity for addiction; or is it (like in my family) much more of a problem that the beloved Aunt Erin can't give up the nicotine habit?

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Tags: boomerang, cartoon, cartoons, jerry, smoke, smoking, tom, tom and jerry, tom jerry, TomAndJerry, TomJerry

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

The Zero Boss 8-23-2006 @ 11:53AM

This isn't' new. Cartoon Network has previously altereed these cartoons to turn the African-American maid into a babysitter, and to rid her of her stereotyped accent.

Honestly, it all makes me a little queasy. How are we supposed to show kids how times are changing when we're rewriting the historical evidence??

mike r 8-23-2006 @ 1:46PM

This is so dumb. I saw those cartoons when I was a kid and it didn't make think that smoking was cool. I never smoked cigarettes--ever--but it wasn't because of TV telling me to or not to, I just knew it was a quick way to be dead.

Whomever complained about this is ruining it for a lot of people. I am disgusted.

mrtotes 8-24-2006 @ 5:51PM

I don't think the maid issue needs to be changed it reflects the true nature of society at the time the presence of the character neither condones nor criticises the use of ethnic servants.

However in some of these cartoons smoking is used in such a fashion as to imply success. That is the wrong message to be sending to children. I don't care if people want to kill themselves smoking - what I do care about is the burden of care that a crippled population places on the National Health Service and hence the tax payer.

I would rather see the whole episode dropped (or reserved for adult audiences) rather than alter an artists work.