Disney's The Princess and the Frog was the first to feature a black heroine, but the film still raised some eyebrows. The studio is no stranger to controversy—here are 10 scandals from its past.
The lyrics of Disney’s cartoon musicals aren’t generally known for their edginess, but the opening song of 1992′s Aladdin left some viewers steaming. As the movie begins, a character describes his Arabian home as a place “where they cut off your ear/ If they don’t like your face,” and concludes, “It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.” Arab-Americans said the line played on stereotypes and asked that it be removed. “Can an Arab-American child feel good after seeing Aladdin? The answer is no,” an official with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee told Variety. (Critics also objected to a scene in which an Arab merchant attempts to slice off Princess Jasmine’s hand.) Disney defended the movie, calling it the first film in years to feature an Arab hero and heroine, but the company agreed to change the lyric in the home-video and CD versions (the new version: “Where it’s flat and immense/ And the heat is intense”). To the dismay of critics, however, the “barbaric” line remained. In a 1993 editorial titled “It’s Racist, But Hey, It’s Disney,” the New York Times countered, “To characterize an entire region with this sort of tongue-in-cheek bigotry, especially in a movie aimed at children, borders on barbaric.”
You probably haven’t seen Disney’s 1946 film Song of the South, but you’ve definitely heard it. Its signature song, “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,” won a 1947 Academy Award, and the Br’er Rabbit animation sequences have been used in several TV spots and Disney specials over the years. But there’s no denying the fact that by today’s standards, the film is rather racist. Set in the post–Civil War South, the movie — in which a former slave named Uncle Remus regales children with amusing stories — depicts an offensively “idyllic” master-slave relationship, as the NAACP once described it. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. considered the feature’s depictions of happy slaves an “insult to American minorities.” Disney has declined to release the film on video in the U.S., fearing an outcry over the crude stereotypes.
Richard Dawson, the wisecracking British entertainer who was among the schemers in the 1960s sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes” and a decade later began kissing thousands of female contestants as host of the game show “Family Feud” has died. He was 79.
As we prepare for the Game of Thrones finale, we recognize Joffrey and nine other baddies who showed us that terrible, horrible things can come in small packages
