Amazon Prime recently warned its viewers that their recently released "Tom and Jerry Second Volume" of animated short movies "may depict some ethnic and racial prejudices that were once commonplace in American society. Such depictions were wrong then and are wrong today."

The subscriber service also released a similar disclaimer when they added "Tom and Jerry Golden Collection: Volume 1" to their available videos. The disclaimer attached to the previous collection of shorts stated that the prejudices presented in the cartoons are products of their time and are not representative of Warner Bros.' nor Amazon's beliefs. "...these cartoons are being presented as they were originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming that these prejudices never existed," Amazon concluded.

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The disclaimers have gotten subscribers and other netizens riled up, with some stating that Amazon's attempt at political correctness has reached exaggerated proportions. One user commented, "So, Tom is basically a racist, sexist, chain-smoking cat. COME ON."

University of Kent crofessor of sociology, Frank Furedi, commented that Amazon's attempt at being careful when it came to the issue of race is a stereotypical example of "backwards" philosophy.

Furedi referred to the disclaimers as "false piety", stated simply for the fact that we are made aware that Amazon is concerned about the issue.

According to Furedi, "Instead of engaging with the moral predicament of our era it prefers to moralize about the attitudes expressed by Tom and Jerry."

The racism Amazon is referring to is the stereotypical portrayal of blacks in characters such as Mammy Two Shoes, Tom's owner who is shown as a poor black maid with a stereotypical heavy black accent. Tom and Jerry themselves are also stereotypical representations of blacks when they are blown up and suddenly their lips become large and their hair are bow-tied up.