Reuters is reporting that Tom and Jerry have been ordered to butt out by a British broadcaster regulator.

Yes, Tom and Jerry the cat and mouse cartoon duo. The cat and mouse team have been told that while beating each other with different kinds of weapons, like axes and clubs, they should not be smoking.

A complaint was sent in by a viewer regarding two episodes to Ofcom, the British broadcast regulator. The first episode showed Tom trying to impress a female cat by rolling, lighting and smoking a cigarette. The second episode in question showed a tennis partner of Tom’s lighting up after a match.

Ofcom admitted that the scenes bring “concerns that smoking on television may normalize smoking,” and that Turner Entertainment (which licensed the cartoons) has agreed to edit out the offensive scenes. It also adds that while it was acceptable at the time that Tom and Jerry was produced for cartoon characters to smoke, it is not acceptable behaviour anymore.






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