This Disney disaster, ending with Jimmy Kimmel’s removal, has hit hard so many people who have been quiet until now. Maybe it’s the dissonance between what Disney pretends to represent and what they have actually stood for all along. Because the truth is, they were never built on the values we wanted to believe in. What they stood on, exclusion, prejudice, control, has always been there, hiding in plain sight. It is only now coming to the forefront publicly, because it has become acceptable to be a horrible human, or a horrible company run by horrible humans.
A story comes to mind that I had tucked away. Not forgotten, exactly, but pushed to the back of my mind for years.
Robby Merkin and his then wife, Joanne, were friends of mine and my ex-husband’s. Robby is a songwriter, involved in some pretty amazing Broadway musicals. One of them was being turned into a Disney film. The Little Mermaid. It came out in 1989.
He was at Disney in Los Angeles with the lyricist and producer Howard Ashman, composer Alan Menken, and the animators who were working on character design. They were still in pre-production. Howard, Alan, and Robby were the only freelancers there, and the only Jews. They had just played the first demo recording of “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” Ursula’s sinuous, seductive, and threatening song, when the animators started laughing.
Howard, who was leading the meeting, got up and walked over to see what was so funny. Over the shoulder of one of the artists, who would later go on to become one of Disney’s most celebrated, was a sketch of two Hasids, peyos flying, arms raised, like some nasty parody of Fiddler on the Roof. Howard asked what they were laughing at, took the pad, and tossed it toward Alan and Robby. Then he walked out, and later filed a complaint with Jeffrey Katzenberg. The artist eventually apologized and, by all accounts, seemed genuinely chastened.
Another person close to me worked at Disney. Entertainment division. I remember her telling me that at Disney World in Florida you would never see a piece of trash because there were underground tunnels, and so if you threw a piece of trash in the trashcan outside of a ride or something it was like it didn’t exist. It went into the underground abyss. They seem to like to scrub away anything that would be considered trash, and their idea of trash is very different than mine.
And then we have to go back to Walt Disney himself. A man who was, without apology, an antisemite. He aligned himself with groups that trafficked in white supremacist ideology, and he let his own prejudices color both his hiring and the stories his company told. Disney’s vision of “wholesome” America was always white America. It was built on exclusion, and it left entire communities unseen. That culture doesn’t just vanish. It lingers, passed down from one generation of leadership to the next, tucked into boardrooms, hiding in storylines, waiting for moments when it shows its face outright, like that sketchpad at the table in 1989.
I remember watching Tom Hanks play Walt Disney in that whitewashed film about Mary Poppins. I sat there in the theater, quiet, thinking to myself, this guy was a bad guy, and they’re not really showing him clearly. I review films, I talk about films, but I never mentioned it.
So here we are now with Disney management. Let’s face it, not exactly what you’d call diverse. They’re continuing a legacy that’s been going on for three generations. But this isn’t just on them. It’s on us. Disney showed us who they were long before this moment in time, just as many other companies and law firms and CEOs and millions of humans are now coming out of the closet of darkness they carried inside. They just didn’t show it to those of us who wanted to believe the world had changed to benefit one and all.
I canceled my Disney+ account this week. I tried to cancel Hulu and after more than three hours on the phone, I can tell you that they say I can’t cancel and I can’t even explain to you why. But I promise you, I will not rest until I never give them another dime.
And I regret the pictures I have of my daughter at Disney World. Why would I take her somewhere I knew was based on all things racist? And, I did know it then. I think we went in 1989 or 1990 and I promise you I don’t remember seeing a person of color there. The parade they do at the end of the day was lined with white, white, white.
Here’s the thing. None of this should surprise us. It’s always been there. It just can’t be ignored any longer. And I will stand up with every breath I have to do whatever I can. But Disney? Fuck you. You lost me for good, later than you should have, shame on me.
And those advertisers supporting Disney? You won’t get my money. Crest toothpaste advertises on ABC. I sent them a letter last night and went on social media and pretended it was from my white teeth saying they’re much more willing now to be less white, at a time when less white should be a good thing anyway. But if they don’t take their Crest advertising down immediately, I will stop buying Crest after seventy years of being one of their biggest customers.
Follow the money. It was true in Watergate and it’s true now. Money is the only language these companies understand. Our money is agency. And now more than ever, we have to start using it.
CM
I want to thank so many of you who have reached out since I stopped writing America Interrupted. I left the column up because you asked me to, and now and again, if I have something personal to write, I will. In the meantime, I hope you are all setting up your groups on Signal for communications in the future. Onward. This is not over. - CM
I TOO AM VERY GLAD TO HAVE YOU BACK!