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In a stunning announcement, Viz/ShoPro Entertainment revealed its plans to sell the the North American television, home video, and merchandising rights to Naruto back to it original licensors, TV Tokyo and Shueisha Inc. "We began to feel uncomfortable with the idea of making piles of cash from the show," a Viz representative told ANN. "After several parent advocacy groups showed us the error of our ways, we felt it was the only logical decision." ANN also contacted Cartoon Network, which had planned to broadcast Naruto later this year.

"Thank God, I can use my mailbox again," said an executive VP at the network. "Within minutes of our broadcast announcement, we were flooded with thousands of e-mails claiming to be from enraged mothers." "They were all the same. 'Naruto Uzumaki, he's a mischievous little brat!' 'By choosing to broadcast this show, you are directly responsible for the moral decline of our country's youth.' They said I would rot in hell, and that my family would face eternal damnation if I allowed Naruto to reach American airwaves." When asked how this would impact their licensing plans for 2005, the Viz representative gave another stunning response. "With California's new stem cell initiative and the breakthroughs at Johns Hopkins in placing human stem cells in rats, we asked ourselves: why not hamsters? Imagine, a real-life talking hamster! That would shut up all those folks who keep mocking Hamtaro."
Source: ANN