Looney Tunes fans call out HBO Max for ‘stupid’ decision to delete original cartoons

Looney Tunes fans have been left upset after HBO Max scrubbed the cartoon’s original shorts from the streaming site.

The Warner Bros-owned franchise began as a series of animated shorts, which were released during the golden age of American animation between 1930 to 1969, and more than 1,000 episodes were released under Looney Tunes and spin-off banner Merrie Melodies.

The cartoon became known for popular characters including Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Foghorn Leghorn, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig – who delivered the catchphrase “That’s all, folks”, which eventually became a Looney Tunes trademark.

HBO’s streaming site Max, which is owned by Warner Bros Discovery, has removed the remaining 255 original Looney Tunes shorts, leaving fans to call for the franchise to be made publicly accessible for all Americans.

According to Deadline, the decision is part of a new plan for the streamer to prioritise adult and family programming over children’s programming, which is no longer considered popular by the streamer.

One unimpressed fan wrote on X/Twitter: “Warner Bros was built on the Looney Tunes. A shame how they’re treated.”

Another added: “Looney Tunes should be a nationalised public utility, freely available and easily accessible. I realise there are other, more pressing issues right now and this will need to be a longer-term political goal, but I think it should be put on the agenda.”

“The US needs a ministry of culture like the French do. Old films and the Looney Tunes and Sesame Street need to be preserved,” they added.

A fan compared the situation to Disney removing some of the franchise’s heroines, like Mickey Mouse.

“This would be like Disney announcing that they’re removing all shorts/movies/whatever that have Mickey, Donald, Goofy etc. in them,” they said. “So weird and sad to see a studio treat their iconic animated mascots like this.”

Another person called the decision “stupid”, adding: “I watch these with my seven-year-old all the time, including last night before bed on HBO. Kids still love this stuff and they own it, absolutely no reason to delete it.”

The news coincides with the release of the feature-length Looney Tunes animated movie, The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Story, which stars Daffy Duck and Porky Pig and has received a score of 86 per cent on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes so far.

Other spinoff versions of Looney Tunes remain on the service, including six seasons of 2020’s Looney Tunes Cartoons, two seasons of 2015’s New Looney Tunes, two seasons of 2002’s Baby Looney Tunes and two seasons of 2023’s Tiny Toons Looniversity.