Did Bugs Bunny appear in a racist cartoon during World War II?
Dear Straight Dope: Here’s something I’ve been intensely curious about ever since I caught wind of it. You obviously know that many of the older Warner Bros. cartoon shorts that were shown in the 50s had references to food/fuel rationing, war bonds, etc. You also surely know of all the fairly racist short films decrying the Japanese as a tiny, yellow, warmongering people. Here’s my question: I’ve been told that even Bugs Bunny was unable to escape being put into one of these films, and that there’s a now-banned Warner Bros. short where our favorite rabbit puts it to some shoeless Japanese antagonist who naturally speaks in slurred “Japanglish.” I can’t seem to dig up anything besides vague references to “racist” cartoons, and most of those are referring to Speedy Gonzales being removed from the air because of the WB’s worries that people might be offended. So, did this thing exist or not? Were there more? — res0nzkt You’re not hallucinating. The cartoon you’re looking for is called “Bu
