Pat Boone Defends Speedy Gonzales After Cancel Culture Criticism

Pat Boone

Pat Boone has fired back after Speedy Gonzales – the "fastest mouse in all of Mexico" – was deemed racially insensitive, reports FOX News.

On March 3, The New York Times published an op-ed by columnist Charles M. Blow who argued that Speedy Gonzales’ on-screen friends "helped popularize the corrosive stereotype of the drunk and lethargic Mexicans."

The decades-old "Looney Tunes" character, who is bilingual, is known for wearing a sombrero and speaking in a thick accent. The classic cartoon famously outsmarted and outran villains while repeating his Spanish-language mantra: "¡Andale! ¡Andale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba!" ("Come on! Come on! Up! Up!").

"Hey, how stupid must you be to think a cartoon mouse is a bad influence?" Boone told Fox News. "Is Mickey an insult to other rodents? Goofy to slow dogs? The Road Runner to wily [coyotes]? Elmer Fudd to hunters?"

"Let’s be truly concerned about jobless people, hungry children, maimed veterans and war widows... and [leave] the few harmless things we can still laugh about alone," Boone shared. "Let grandma and the three little pigs win once in a while – c’mon!"

I am the voice of Speedy Gonzales in the new Space Jam. Does this mean they are gonna try to cancel Fluffy too? U can’t catch me cancel culture. I’m the fastest mouse in all of Mexico 💨 pic.twitter.com/Ov4wjO00kM

— G a b r i e l - I g l e s i a s (@fluffyguy) March 7, 2021

The singer’s 1962 song "Speedy Gonzales" was written by Buddy Kaye, Ethel Lee and David Hess, also known as David Dante. Dante was the first person to record the track, which appeared on the Hot 100 in April 1961.

Boone’s cover peaked at #6 on the Hot 100, where it spent 13 weeks. It was an international Top 10 hit, reaching #1 in several European countries.

"When I first heard Speedy Gonzales, I was appearing in the Araneta Coliseum in Manila, a 24,000-seat 10-day engagement," the 86-year-old recalled. "Late one night in a little club, a little trio rocked the joint with this goofy song – which was number1 there, an American record by David Dante on RCA… I had to sing it, it was such fun!"