Smoking scenes in "Tom and Jerry" cartoons are now banned in Britain, following a viewer's complaint to the government agency that polices the airwaves.In one episode of the classic US cartoon series, Tom is seen smoking a roll-up cigarette in a bid to impress a female cat. In another, Tom's opponent in a tennis match was seen smoking a large cigar.
Following an investigation prompted by the anonymous viewer's complaint, regulator Ofcom said Monday that children's TV channel Boomerang has agreed to edit out scenes deemed to glamorise or condone smoking.
"We note that, in 'Tom and Jerry', smoking usually appears in a stylised manner and is frequently not condoned," said Ofcom, recalling how the cartoons were made in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s when smoking was not so controversial.
"However, while we appreciate the historic integrity of the animation, the level of editorial justification required for the inclusion of smoking in such cartoons is necessarily high."
I've written about the anti-smoking zealots before, as fierce and uncompromising in their quest for moral purity as the Wahabbists or Taliban. I suspect it won't be long before they demand that all film and television portrayals of smoking be digitally censored. It's going to be odd seeing Humphrey Bogart repeatedly putting his hands to his mouth for no apparent purpose, but it's a small price to pay to pretend that he didn't die of throat cancer.
Or as one comedian put it: Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing. (I was about to attribute the quote to another notorious smoker, Groucho Marx, but Google informs me that it was more likely Redd Foxx; happily, for the sake of symmetry, also a heavy smoker.)
Bah. Here's a Tom and Jerry game that you can play until they ban it for violence or somesuch. Warning: No smoking, thank God, but there's music, of which your boss and/or the Taliban might not approve.