Jim Burns, CNSNews.com
Thursday, April 4, 2002

League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is calling on the cable channel to show Speedy Gonzales cartoons because "Speedy's a cultural icon. He's a good mouse," according to Gabriela Lemus, director of policy and legislation for LULAC.

The Mexican mouse of Warner Brothers cartoon fame was taken off the air by Cartoon Network because of what network officials described as excessive smoking and drinking by the cartoon's characters and low viewership.

But concerns over negative stereotypes of Mexicans don't resonate with Lemus.

"Being a Latin American child and [having] watched him my whole life in Latin America as well as the United States, I don't recall ever having any negative connotations with him," she said.

Lemus also noted that Speedy provided something of a role model for some of his less ambitious cartoon peers. "Some of the other mice were not the best of all characters, but [Speedy] always chastised them for being lazy, and he always told them to get your act together. I don't [think] he's so bad."

Also working for a return of Speedy is a Hispanic Web site that is promoting a petition drive to bring back "the fastest mouse in all of Mexico."

The English-language Web site Hispanic OnLine, which is based in Miami and caters to the interests of Latinos, is promoting a petition drive to get Speedy back on the air.

Hispanic OnLine Associate Editor Virginia Cueto said a recent article on the Web site about Speedy sparked the petition drive by fans who want him back on the air, and the site is linking visitors to the petition from its homepage.

"We wrote the original story bringing to light the fact that many cartoon fans were unhappy with the Cartoon Network's decision, and [fans] started a campaign to bring Speedy back," said Cueto.

'Shown in Latin America'

According to Cueto, Speedy Gonzales "is one of the very few Latino cartoon characters on the screen, and he remains immensely popular. He was popular from the start, and he remains popular now throughout the rest of the world. He is even shown in Latin America."

Cartoon Network spokeswoman Laurie Goldberg said the cable channel had not received the petition yet, but because of correspondence from viewers was aware of interest in returning Speedy to the airwaves.

"We are very aware of it," she said. "We have 8,500 cartoons, and as a business we run which cartoons we think are appropriate and will get the best ratings."

But according to Goldberg, "There are issues with Speedy."

'Smoking, Drinking and Shooting'

"We have a large audience of kids and we don't want to put things on that are bad for kids. Some Hispanic stereotypes - some people may find offensive and some people may not," she said. "There's a lot of smoking and drinking and shooting in some of those cartoons, and there are a lot of parents that prefer that we don't show cartoons that have a lot of smoking, drinking and shooting."

Cueto thinks Cartoon Network's decision not to air Speedy because he could offend some people might have been laudable, but she said Latin fans of the cartoon were saying "no one consulted us. We are not offended by this cartoon. We want him back."

An unscientific survey seems to support Cueto's observations. The Web site Wednesday began an opinion poll on whether Speedy should be on TV, and participants are overwhelmingly saying yes. "Our poll shows that 85 percent of our visitors are in favor of Speedy," she said.

Cartoon Network 'Not a Public Service'

But Goldberg emphasized that Cartoon Network is "a business. We're not a library, and we're not a public service, and as a business, we do what we think is best to serve our customers."

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