All This And Rabbit Stew – Bugs Bunny (1941)
This is the third and final cartoon from director Tex Avery, and it is also the only banned film to star Bugs Bunny.
In the “Merrie Melodies” episode All This and Rabbit Stew (1941), an African American hunter tries repeatedly and fails to shoot the bunny. The hunter has large lips and feet, and he speaks in the standard ethnic dialect for African American fictional characters in popular culture at the time. Just when the hunter has a close range to shoot as the film ends, Bugs entices him to gamble and proceeds to literally win the clothes of his adversary’s back. Then, the bunny derisively imitates his humiliated predator’s shuffle and dialect.
So, why was it censored in 1968? The image of the rural, shuffling African American in dialect was out of step with the times, and Bugs’s mimicking of the shuffle and dialect did not help matters. The dice game and the hunter’s weakness towards it also smacked of ethnic stereotyping.
