‘Space Jam 2’ director says he had ‘no idea’ people would be ‘up in arms’ about Lola Bunny desexualization

• "Space Jam 2" director Malcolm Lee defended the redesign of Lola Bunny in an interview.
• Lee thought the original design from "Space Jam" was oversexualized.
• He said he was surprised that people cared about a cartoon bunny "not having boobs."
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The director of "Space Jam: A New Legacy" starring LeBron James did not expect the redesign of Lola Bunny to receive a backlash.

Lola Bunny was introduced in the first "Space Jam" (1996) movie as a romantic interest for "Looney Tunes" main character Bugs Bunny. After the release of the first look of Lola in "Space Jam 2" in March, some critics took to social media to complain about the change.

Malcolm Lee, the director of the sequel, told Entertainment Weekly that he did not think the new look would start a "super weird" discussion about the character's body.

He said: "I had no idea that people would be that up in arms about a bunny not having boobs. Listen, I understand people don't want things to change, but I think we needed some evolution with her, not by objectifying her but by making her strong and still feminine."

Amongst the many commentators included women such as ex-pro-golfer, Paige Spinarac who told The Sun that the redesign implied you can't be sexy and strong. To this, Lee said: "And, yes, we had all these other women who were like, 'Oh, you can't be strong and have big boobs?!' Sure you can, but we're talking about a cartoon bunny, not women!"

The 51-year-old director also praised Zendaya who voices Lola Bunny in the upcoming sequel: "Zendaya's having a great moment right now. She's taking ownership of her image, her brand, her business. She's really the embodiment of Lola, to tell you the truth. That's the kind of projection of Lola that we wanted to have."

Zendaya was also surprised by the response to the new look, telling Entertainment Weekly: "I didn't know that was going to happen either! I definitely know we love her, but I didn't know it was going to be as much of a focus as it was. But I understand, because she's a lovable character. She's very important, so I get it."

In March, Lee told Entertainment Weekly that he felt that the character was oversexualized and so wanted to redesign Lola for the sequel to be "feminine without being objectified."

He said, "Lola was not politically correct ... This is a kids' movie, why is she in a crop top? It just felt unnecessary, but at the same time, there's a long history of that in cartoons.

"For us, it was, let's ground her athletic prowess, her leadership skills, and make her as full a character as the others."

There have also been questions raised about other characters featured in "Space Jam 2." Pepe Le Pew, who New York Times columnist Charles M Blow argued was "normalizing rape culture," had his scene from the upcoming film removed despite some saying that the scene would be educational to young boys. However, criticisms about the harmful stereotypes portrayed by Speedy Gonzalez, have not stopped the character's appearance in "Space Jam 2."