Earlier this year, controversy broke out over the news that the amorous skunk Pepé Le Pew had been cut from Space Jam: A New Legacy. Pepé hasn't really been a prominent Looney Tunes character in a long time, understandably so given that his whole shtick was based around extreme sexual harassment, but the Space Jam sequel cut a planned scene in which Pepé was to be directly called out on his offensive behavior. It seemed as if even mockery of Pepé wasn't something Warner Bros. wanted to entertain at the current moment -- which makes it all the more surprising that the allegedly "canceled" character shows up in the new Animaniacs.
The Pepé cameo occurs in the first segment of Animaniacs Season 2, Episode 7, "Yakko Amakko." An homage to the classic 1953 Chuck Jones cartoon "Duck Amuck," "Yakko Amakko" involves the eldest Warner Brother being tormented by one of his animators. In one gag early on in the cartoon, Yakko is about to take a lick from his ice cream cone, but as his tongue reaches out, the animator erases the ice cream and replaces it with Pepé Le Pew.
After unintentionally licking the skunk all over his body, Yakko is understandably disturbed. Pepé is also uncomfortable, saying, "Zis is not something I would usually say, but, uh, things may be moving a little fast for moi." Yakko demands his ice cream back, so the animator then proceeds to erase Pepé, a fate the skunk is desperate to escape as he cries out about his fear of the "cold and dark" void of nonexistence.
Given Animaniacs Season 2 would have been in production at the same time as Space Jam: A New Legacy, it's likely this gag is a meta acknowledgment of the controversy over Pepé's "cancelation." The fact Pepé was allowed to cameo in Animaniacs despite being cut from Space Jam: A New Legacy and other Looney Tunes productions is likely due to a combination of this cameo's brevity and the Animaniacs reboot's general lean towards edgier, more adult-oriented humor.
While not as blunt as the deleted Space Jam call-out scene, the Pepé cameo in "Yakko Amakko" serves to deliver some meta, darkly comedic retribution to the dated character. It's worth acknowledging that, while it was never as extreme as it was with Pepé, the Warners engaged in their fair share of objectification and comedic sexual harassment in the original Animaniacs series. That the Warners can come back with their own series again is because there's much more to their characters than just those problematic routines, whereas a one-joke character like Pepé now can only really exist to be canceled.
To see Pepé get canceled, Animaniacs Season 2 is now streaming on Hulu.