Months after HBO ditched their library of Looney Tunes shorts, they have popped up on Tubi, with around 800 of the classic shorts being hosted on the free streamer. Unfortunately for international fans, the shorts are only available in the United States.
This is huge news for Looney Tunes aficionados, who saw HBO officially drop the cartoons in The Dip after previously claiming they would not be getting rid of the shorts. But fans should be aware that the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies collection on Tubi is far from complete. Yes, 789 shorts is the vast majority of the catalogue, but the complete collection sits around 1,000. So what’s missing? Yes, it’s the problematic stuff.
Consider Bosko and Buddy, two of the earliest Star characters in the Looney Tunes franchise and neither of whom is to be found. Bosko alone had nearly 40 shorts while Buddy starred in more than 20. Undoubtedly one reason for Bosko has been exiled is that the character is seen as perpetuating racist stereotypes, which certainly plays a factor in other Looney Tunes shorts not being featured. The most infamous would be the Censored Eleven, a group of shorts produced between 1931 and 1944 (and directed by the likes of Tex Avery, Fritz Freleng and Chuck Jones) that have been pulled due to their depictions of ethnicities. So, no, you won’t be seeing Goldilocks and the Jivin’ Bears on Tubi.
Not including some shorts is going to be a debate amongst fans to be sure, but there’s another issue here if we want to get picky. Objectively, Tubi’s Looney Tunes categorization is an absolute nightmare. Unlike how HBO hosted the shorts, Tubi has it lumped them into one season and none of them can be viewed individually, instead editing most of them into triple features. There is also no search function, so if you go to search for 1953’s Duck Amuck, you’re going to end up staring at the hillbillies from Duck Dynasty. And don’t get us started on the ad breaks…
Even still, we’re absolutely thrilled that rabbit season (or is it duck season?) is back in and that Tubi has the rights to the bulk of the Looney Tunes library, serving as the streamer to see just about everything from 1931’s Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! to 2004’s Attack of the Drones.
Elsewhere, the once-shelved Coyote vs. Acme will get a theatrical release after its own near-death, hitting screens on August 28th, 2026.