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.
The Simpsons have been on the air for more than 20 years, so maybe it’s not so surprising that of the hundreds of episodes, at least one would inspire a nation to threaten FOX with a lawsuit. In 2002′s “Blame It on Lisa,” the family heads to Rio de Janeiro, where all sorts of Latin American stereotypes play out and the family has a less than idyllic trip. Homer gets kidnapped by a cab driver, and Bart watches a children’s show called “Teleboobies” (that’s before he’s swallowed by a snake, of course). The episode hadn’t even aired abroad before Rio’s tourism board said it would hurt efforts to bring in visitors and threatened legal action.
Said executive producer James Brooks: “We apologize to the lovely city and people of Rio de Janeiro, and if that doesn’t settle the issue, Homer Simpson offers to take on the President of Brazil on Fox’s Celebrity Boxing.”
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
