# How racist was the Speedy Gonzales character? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, cartoons-animation\ **Created:** [October 20, 2020, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371 "2020-10-20T00:23:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/1 "2020-10-20T00:23:16Z")
Speedy Gonzales cartoons have disappeared, I suspect because he was seen as a negative stereotype. And yet, as a Mexican character said in Overboard (2018), ‘I love Speedy. He’s fast, he’s charming. He’s Mexican. He outsmarts the pussycat and brings delicious cheese to his people.’ This has been my take. I see Speedy Gonzales as a positive stereotype. He’s the Good Guy. He always comes out on top. Yes, he wore a sombrero; and yes, he had an accent. But I see him as a Winner. [NB: I am not Hispanic.] ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/2 "2020-10-20T00:37:24Z")
Speedy is sort of a backhanded racism. I suspect the creators thought, “Hey! Wouldn’t it be funny if we had a Mexican character that was quick and energetic instead of (the usual) slow and lazy?” ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/3 "2020-10-20T00:38:37Z")
I barely remember those cartoons, but weren’t his friends the worst kind of racist stereotypes? ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/4 "2020-10-20T00:39:53Z")
That’s what I was going to say. Maybe Speedy himself wasn’t portrayed as lazy, but as I recall pretty much all of Speedy’s friends embodied the “Mexicans are lazy” stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/5 "2020-10-20T00:40:37Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Speedy is sort of a backhanded racism. I suspect the creators thought, “Hey! Wouldn’t it be funny if we had a Mexican character that was quick and energetic instead of (the usual) slow and lazy?” That never even crossed my mind. As a child, I just saw him as the Good Guy and the Winner. > [@madmonk28](#): > > I barely remember those cartoons, but weren’t his friends the worst kind of racist stereotypes? No recollection at all. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/6 "2020-10-20T00:53:01Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Speedy is sort of a backhanded racism. I suspect the creators thought, “Hey! Wouldn’t it be funny if we had a Mexican character that was quick and energetic instead of (the usual) slow and lazy?” Is that the joke/reference? I had no idea. As a kid, I thought he was just a fast mouse. I have no memory of any of his enemies, though. Does anyone have a link that shows his lazy Mexican enemies? Or whatever it was? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/7 "2020-10-20T01:21:53Z")
His enemies were American cats and ducks. His pals were usually very stereotypical Mexicans - slow, often drunk, and in the case of his cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez packing a pistola. [![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EjIxFR8z50Q/Sl_xZQglc_I/AAAAAAAAAAs/Jw7VlNLmLc0/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/Tabasco+Road+Still.JPG) ](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EjIxFR8z50Q/Sl_xZQglc_I/AAAAAAAAAAs/Jw7VlNLmLc0/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/Tabasco+Road+Still.JPG) ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/8 "2020-10-20T01:30:16Z")
A whirlwind tour through the [list of Speedy Gonzalez cartoons](https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Speedy_Gonzales_cartoons) on the Looney Tunes Wiki tells me that Speedy’s common enemies were Sylvester and Daffy Duck, but there were also a few appearances by a couple of cats/crows called [Jose and Manuel](https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/Jose_and_Manuel) who are described as " lazy and not very intelligent." [![](https://www.the-other-view.com/images/foghorn5.jpg) ](https://www.the-other-view.com/images/foghorn5.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/9 "2020-10-20T02:40:45Z")
I was going to mention Slowpoke Rodriguez ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/10 "2020-10-20T02:47:53Z")
That’s just Heckle and Jeckle going south for the Winter. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/11 "2020-10-20T02:48:24Z")
It’s a pain in the butt being politically correct. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/B5gAQ7wh4A0/maxresdefault.jpg "Looney Tunes Back In Action Restaurant Scene") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5gAQ7wh4A0) ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/12 "2020-10-20T12:48:54Z")
“I know Speedy Gonzales. He goes steady with my sister”. “Speedy Gonzales, he goes steady with _everybody_’s sister!” ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/13 "2020-10-20T13:00:23Z")
The Pat Boone song “Speedy Gonzales” is pretty negative: he goes out drinking and cheating on his wife while his house and family falls apart. “Hey, Rosita - come quick, down at the cantina they giving green stamps with tequila!!” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/14 "2020-10-20T14:05:36Z")
There was another rapidly-moving "positive’ Mexican stereotype in cartoons – _The Dick Tracy show_ > [@](#): > > **Manuel Tijuana Guadalajara Tampico “Go-Go” Gomez, Jr.** , essentially a human version of [Speedy Gonzales](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedy_Gonzales), another Blanc character, though Paul Frees did his voice for most of the series. Go-Go wears a big Sombrero and a big grin and is often seen lounging in a hammock while waiting for an assignment. The same comments apply here. He’s “funny” because he’s fast instead of slow-moving, the usual stereotype, but the joke means that knowledge of the usual stereotype is implied and carried along. I like that you’ve got the positive image of the lawman of latinx ancestry, but you have to ask if it’s worth the 'cost". The same goes for another of Tracy’s deputies in the show: > [@](#): > > **Joe Jitsu** , a parody of Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto (featuring many movie images of Chinese and Japanese culture). He is an intelligent detective who fights with martial arts (repeatedly slamming his victim to the ground while saying “So sorry!.. Excuse me, please!.. Begging your pardon!”). He is named after the Japanese martial art of jujitsu. Benny Rubin provided his voice throughout the series. I don’t think the cartoon creators were actively looking to come up with insulting stereotypes – they were simply looking for interesting characters with significant features they could use to differentiate their features. That this often lead to the use of offensive stereotypes is the topic of a big long discussion I’d rather not go into right now. > **[The Dick Tracy Show](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dick_Tracy_Show)** > > The Dick Tracy Show is an American animated television series based on Chester Gould's comic strip crime fighter. The series was produced from 1961 to 1962 by UPA. > In the show, policeman Dick Tracy employed a series of cartoony subordinate flatfoots to fight crime each week, contacting them on his two-way wristwatch radio. Tracy himself hardly appeared on the show at all. The opening was designed so that local TV hosts dressed as policemen could introduce the cartoon by barking orders into a pro... ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/15 "2020-10-20T16:58:47Z")
I can only speak anecdotaly, but growing up my hispanic friends loved Speedy. Speedy shirts, speedy bedsheets, etc… ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/16 "2020-10-20T17:53:05Z")
Speedy himself wasn’t racist, he was just a fast Mexican mouse. I doubt many kids watching the cartoons took away any negative concepts. But the negative aspects were there in the depiction of other Mexicans, and in the way these cartoons fit in among others with more clearly negative stereotypes of people, and the further problem of any Mexican or other Hispanic person getting called “Speedy Gonzalez” or “Frito Bandito” as if their actual names didn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/17 "2020-10-20T18:16:38Z")
I didn’t like Speedy Gonzales cartoons, I thought the accent was terrible and the rest full of bad stereo types. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/18 "2020-10-20T20:58:59Z")
When I saw the title I thought it was going to be about the [upcoming movie](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1607689/) I just read about. May be interesting to see what kind of a take they put on the character. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/19 "2020-10-21T00:23:12Z")
He might be in the upcoming _Space Jam_ movie with LeBron James. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/20 "2020-10-21T00:41:39Z")
A lot of cartoons embody negative stereotypes. Foghorn Leghorn is arguably not a positive portrayal of Southeners and Pepe LePew is odiferous and has an antiquated view of consent issues - do they still show these? Speedy Gonzales wears a sombrero (few modern Mexicans do), has a bad accent and IIRC a catchy or annoying song. _“I’m here, I’m there, I’m everywhere. So beware.”_ The speed is in contrast to his slower friends and thus also is a stereotype. But at least he is usually the hero, though not to cats. There are probably more offensive things. _Yo estoy hasta la madre / Que me pongan en sombrero…_ But I am unqualified to determine how much a Mexican was, is, or should be offended by this, if at all. That’s not how it works. The Latino networks do show him. I do know lots of Indian friends who loved Apu and quoted him endlessly. But I can also see why some find him problematic (even though I think he is much more positive than not. Many disagree.) The Mexicans I know _adored_ the movie Coco. A more positive and realistic portrayal. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371.md?page=2)