# Holy crud! Racist Tom and Jerry episode on Cartoon Network Japan **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370 "2018-12-19T15:06:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/61 "2018-12-22T22:53:52Z")
theres a few tom and jerry cartoons that for one reason or another that haven’t been broadcast in a while also remember Ted turner who owned 99 percent of the studio cartoons made at one point was well known for cherry picking what he aired and out right editing parts and jokes he felt were offensive (one example is bugs vs the mounties in which the end was cut off by 30 seconds ) One that cartoon network has never aired and I don’t remember the name of is one of the early 60s eastern European cheapies where tom is sitting on a railroad track waiting for the train ……. jerry in an oddly british sounding voice is narrating one of toms failed love affairs in which a wealthy butch out spent and classed him and his life went down the tubes trying to keep up but it played out like an addiction story and the only thing that made it amusing was the visual gags Another one that didn’t play for years until warners bought out ted was a rather sadistic chuck jones short where jerry and another unidentified mouse play these escalating practical jokes on a sleeping tom that almost end in tom convinced hes trying to kill himself and almost finishes the job……. ---
**Author:** ![Bczar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ab097/32.png) [@Bczar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bczar)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/62 "2018-12-23T00:21:35Z")
> [@Not\_Carlson](#): > > I just came home a few hours ago to find my kid watching an old Tom and Jerry episode on Cartoon Network. > Tom has Jerry and Tuffy trapped in a closet. How will they get past him!? > Then, Jerry finds a tin of boot polish! > (“No… this can’t be about to happen” I start thinking.) > Jerry begins smearing the boot polish over his face. > (“No… noooo-no-no-no-no-no!” I plead out loud to the TV.) > Jerry wraps a red and white polkadot handkerchief around his head. > (“Oh My God No!”) > But there is no god; and, yes, Jerry waddles out of the closet dressed as a mammy caricature, followed by Tuffy all blacked up as a Pickaninny “Honey Chile’”. > I was flabbergasted. (Well, to be honest, I was simultaneously laughing and cussing at the TV in incredulity.) > > I looked it up, and the episode we saw is titled “Milky Waif”. > > As I said to my kid, I remember seeing similar things in cartoons when I was a kid, but can’t believe I’m seeing it now, and I’m sure that wouldn’t be aired on Cartoon Network in the US. > This is Japan, so I think there’s probably a lot less sensitivity to that kind of thing, but I figured, if I’ve got the time to write about it here, I might as well write a complaint to the network. > Now I feel a little like a fussy old parent, but I’m damned if I’m gonna let them show that shit to my kids when I’m paying for their service. I’ve seen that particular cartoon many times. If you’ve seen T&J a number of times, I’m sure you had seen Mammy in them. They would only show her from the waist down, but she had the stereotypical Mammy voice (“Thomas, is you gon’ catch that mouse?”). For a while, they redubbed her voice with that of the late June Foray (the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Granny in the Tweety & Sylvester cartoons) but went back to the Mammy voice in the Nineties. The thing that bugged me about that particular cartoon was that Jerry is MUCH smaller than that woman, so how did it fool Tom? Oh, and lest you think I’m a candidate for Klan membership: I’m a 58- year-old black man. Not all blackface is created equally racist. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/63 "2018-12-23T05:39:26Z")
> [@Bczar](#): > > I’ve seen that particular cartoon many times. If you’ve seen T&J a number of times, I’m sure you had seen Mammy in them. This character (does anyone ever actually address her as ‘Mammy’???) in fact appears in the very first episode, wherein we learn that Tom’s name is Jasper, and that she is a bad speller. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/64 "2018-12-23T06:33:00Z")
Mammy’s face appeared in exactly one cartoon, Saturday Evening Puss. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/65 "2018-12-23T06:49:42Z")
I always get upset with posts that point to those insensitive \. I’m sure there are things in American culture that offends those in other countries that don’t get posted here because this forum is highly Westerncentric, witnessed by the numerous posts about “Things that everyone the world knows” or “Everyone in the world does” posts. Considering that Europe and North America account for less than 20% of the world population, I find those kinds of posts and outrage misguided at best. [Demographics of the world - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_world) That said, worldwide brand Prada, recently was called to task for their “Pradamalia” fantasy figures which featured a distinctly stereotypical blackface “monkey” in a Soho, NY store and highly likely their other stores around the world. I’d love to hear the marketing of this, "Doesn’t it look, a bit…ummm…stereotypical?, “No…it’s a fantasy figure that will go over big with our cilentele!” _SIGH_ “Prada Group abhors racist imagery. The Pradamalia are fantasy charms composed of elements of the Prada oeuvre. They are imaginary creatures not intended to have any reference to the real world and certainly not blackface." _Double SIGH_ [https://nypost.com/2018/12/14/prada-pulls-racist-blackface-products-from-soho-store/](https://nypost.com/2018/12/14/prada-pulls-racist-blackface-products-from-soho-store/) ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/66 "2018-12-23T07:43:12Z")
@Not Carlson Just curious, did you talk to your son about why you thought the cartoon was inappropriate? I posted in another thread that I used to read a lot of b/w comic magazines (Vampirella, Creepy, Eerie, etc) that my Mom told me had too much “man/lady stuff”. I immediately trashed them all, not out of fear, but cause she respected me enough to tell me her concern. As I think back upon it, it was apparently okay that there were lots of severed heads and other body parts! ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/67 "2018-12-23T08:22:47Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > One that cartoon network has never aired and I don’t remember the name of is one of the early 60s eastern European cheapies where tom is sitting on a railroad track waiting for the train ……. jerry in an oddly british sounding voice is narrating one of toms failed love affairs in which a wealthy butch out spent and classed him and his life went down the tubes trying to keep up but it played out like an addiction story and the only thing that made it amusing was the visual gags You’re describing _Blue Cat Blues_ which wasn’t a Eastern European cheapie or made in the 60’s. It was produced by Hanna Barbera and released in 1956. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piJI3pvwBuM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piJI3pvwBuM) Don’t mess with my cartoon memories, it’s one of the few good things I have left! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/68 "2018-12-23T11:52:02Z")
**Bczar** , what’s yourtake on Mammy Two-Shoes? I always thought it was a clever idea to have the human character shown only from the knees down, or the occasional scolding finger descending god-like from the top of the frame. And the voice and personality given to the character by the original voice actor works well to create an amusing no-nonsense authority figure who can be both coddling and threatening to Tom. It’s a sharp contrast to the goofy angry man who is Tom’s owner in later episodes, and is shown in full body, which I thought was a poor decision. It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized Mammy Two-Shoes was a racial stereotype. In the case of the episode I saw, where Jerry blacks up to fool Tom, I wondered at first whether he was going to try and dress up like Mammy Two-Shoes. That at least would have made some sense. But his disguise looks nothing like the little we see of Tom’s owner, so the whole charade is not only offensive, it’s completely bonkers! ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/69 "2018-12-23T12:02:32Z")
> [@lingyi](#): > > @Not Carlson > > Just curious, did you talk to your son about why you thought the cartoon was inappropriate? A little, but I didn’t really need to. Although he doesn’t know about the history of blakface, he understands that dressing up to mock another culture or ethnicity isn’t right. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/70 "2018-12-23T12:08:04Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > This character (does anyone ever actually address her as ‘Mammy’???) in fact appears in the very first episode, wherein we learn that Tom’s name is Jasper, and that she is a bad speller. I remember him being named Jasper in an early episode, but didn’t remember the spelling mistake. So I guess that’s another stereotype. Although my own spelling has always been atrocious, so maybe that’s why I didn’t notice. > [@markn\_1](#): > > Mammy’s face appeared in exactly one cartoon, Saturday Evening Puss. No kidding!? I had no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Bczar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ab097/32.png) [@Bczar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bczar)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/71 "2019-01-16T17:42:34Z")
Not the best shot of her, but there **IS** her face being shown very briefly. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/72 "2019-11-01T20:43:15Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > There have been complaints in the past about obvious blackface caricature characters, dolls, and cartoons in Japan. Bump. Turns out, they were probably just [dressed as tapioca](https://soranews24.com/2019/11/02/we-hit-japans-biggest-halloween-party-poorly-dressed-as-japans-hottest-beverage/). ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2019, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/73 "2019-11-01T23:05:51Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Bump. > Turns out, they were probably just [dressed as tapioca](https://soranews24.com/2019/11/02/we-hit-japans-biggest-halloween-party-poorly-dressed-as-japans-hottest-beverage/). That always makes me wonder if Day of the Dead facepaint is considered blackface since in a lot I see if them the black eye and mouth holes take up more space then the white skull portion. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/74 "2019-11-03T19:36:56Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > That always makes me wonder if Day of the Dead facepaint is considered blackface since in a lot I see if them the black eye and mouth holes take up more space then the white skull portion. I’ve never heard it considered blackface. I have heard Day of the Dead costumes are considered un-PC for Halloween. I’m not sure if that’s because Day of the Dead isn’t really “Mexican Halloween” or it’s just that the overly PC snowflake crowd has declared any costume that references anything from another nationality as “cultural appropriation”. Here’s one. As a white man, is it considered ok if I dress as Bond villain Baron Samedi? [Baron Samedi | James Bond Wiki | Fandom](https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/Baron_Samedi). ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/75 "2019-11-04T19:23:47Z")
> [@bmoak](#): > > Ask Cartoon Network Japan when their next airing of that wartime classic “Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips” will be. Wonder if they still air _Momotato’s Divine Sea Warriors_?😉 ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/76 "2019-11-04T21:45:08Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Wonder if they still air _Momotato’s Divine Sea Warriors_?😉 I love that movie. I like to see the bizarre depiction of the westerners at the end, and their signing of the surrender papers. The music and singing (especially the Japanese alphabet song) are very cool, too. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/77 "2019-11-05T02:45:51Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Here’s one. As a white man, is it considered ok if I dress as Bond villain Baron Samedi? [Baron Samedi | James Bond Wiki | Fandom](https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/Baron_Samedi). Not sure how well it would work if you had light skin, as the white makeup wouldn’t stand out and create the skull effect. In other words, I would suspect that painting your skin darker would be seen as problematic, since the character is black. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370/78 "2019-11-05T08:23:14Z")
That’s nothing. You can still rent Disney’s “Song of the South” in some video rental shops in Japan. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crud-racist-tom-and-jerry-episode-on-cartoon-network-japan/826370.md?page=3)