'Looney Tunes' gets rid of guns in new cartoons

HBO Max’s new “Looney Tunes Cartoons” features the same classic characters millions of people grew up watching, with one noticeable change.

"We’re not doing guns," Peter Browngardt, the series executive producer, told The New York Times. "But we can do cartoony violence — TNT, the Acme stuff. All that was kind of grandfathered in."

That means characters like Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam will no longer carry firearms. In fact, Elmer Fudd will ditch his gun and instead carry a scythe in his eternal quest to hunt “wabbits.”

The new look was seen as early as last year when a short previewing the new “Looney Tunes Cartoons” that featured Elmer Fudd and nemesis Bugs Bunny appeared online.

“Looney Tunes Cartoon” premiered earlier this month on HBO Max and features several beloved animated Warner Bros. characters. The original "Looney Tunes" debuted in 1930 and the shorts ended in 1969. There will be about 200 new shorts in all.

Browngardt said he hopes they will stay true to the original.

“I always thought, ‘What if Warner Bros. had never stopped making “Looney Tunes” cartoons?’ As much as we possibly could, we treated the production in that way,” he said.

Fans had mixed opinions about the change.

"I can't believe this needs to be said, but Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd were never responsible gun owners anyway," one person pointed out, along with a GIF of Yosemite Sam recklessly firing his weapons.

"cancel culture has finally come for elmer fudd," someone else commented.

"The looney tunes remake with Elmer Fudd not having a gun is ridiculous. The whole premise of the cartoon was him hunting for BB and Daffy with a gun ... Chuck Jones must be turning over in his grave along with Mel Blanc," another person remarked, referring to Jones, the legendary Warner Bros. animator, and Blanc, the longtime voice actor who provided the voices for multiple characters.