What People Are Getting Wrong This Week: Disney Conspiracy Theories
Disney—a corporation, a person, and a way of life—has long been a hot spot for misinformation and conspiracy theories. The corporation’s “have fun or we’ll break your arm” philosophy, the life of its enigmatic founder, and Disney’s hold on our collective imagination in the form of Marvel, Star Wars, etc. make it sound like everything you hear about Disney. may be true. When you consider the incredible but verifiable facts about the company and the man, no one can be accused of confusing Disney fiction with Disney fact. Perhaps Disneyland really was used for mind control experiments by the CIA ! You do not know!
Disney is currently the bogeyman of cranks on the right side of the political spectrum, with extremists calling for a boycott of its parks and cruises over their “wokeness” and claims that the corporation’s real purpose is not making money, but ” grooming” children . But Disney used to be just as deeply mistrusted by left-wing cranks—not because of babysitting, but because of corporate malfeasance and cynical profiteering. Result: There are many varieties of misinformation in the Disney Conspiracy expanded universe. Below I’ve compiled a collection of lies about Disney, as well as an equal number of truths that are almost as incredible.
Lie: Disney’s head was cryogenically frozen
The granddaddy of all Disney conspiracy theories is the theory that Walt Disney is trying to cheat death by freezing his head (or his entire body) so that he can be unfrozen and reanimated sometime in the future. This story dates back to 1967, when a reporter for the tabloid The National Spotlite claimed that he snuck into the hospital where Walt Disney died and saw that his body was frozen in liquid nitrogen. From there it caught on and grew without any real reason other than the fact that it seemed like something Walt Disney would do. Unfortunately, the rumors are not true: Disney was cremated and his ashes were buried in Glendale.
Truth: There is still a Walt Disney Condo at Disneyland.
Walt Disney spent so much time at Disneyland during its construction that he built himself an apartment above the firehouse on Main Street to avoid commuting. This may be reasonable, but why did Disneyland keep the rooms the way he left them after his death? Why is the light still on in the window? The park sometimes offers tours of the room (for a fee, of course), but is it safe to assume that the real reason they’re keeping Walt’s apartment is because they hope he’ll come back one day with his head thawed out. attached to a new body and ready to begin production on Song of the South 2 ? (Yes.)
Lie: Walt Disney was a Nazi
As far as we know, Walt Disney was not a Nazi, but it’s complicated. When Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl visited Hollywood in 1938, the industry gave her the cold shoulder, but not Walt Disney. Walt gave Riefenstahl a tour of his studio, but refused to watch or promote Olympia , Riefenstahl’s documentary about the 1936 Olympics. He also hired many Jews who never reported incidents of anti-Semitism. But the best proof of Disney’s non-Nazism is the anti-Nazi cartoon Disney created. Starring Donald Duck and featuring music by Spike Jonze, Face of the Fuhrer is such an effective takedown of Nazi Germany that it’s doubtful the Nazis would approve.
Truth: Walt Disney was a racist
Disney’s animated film Song of the South is racist, and not just when viewed through modern eyes. During its production, both the NAACP and the American Council on Race Relations told Disney, “Hey, your movie is really racist.” Hays’ office reviewed the script and requested that objectionable racial terms be removed. Crew members stopped production due to the film’s portrayal of African Americans, and its release was met with protests. So Walt knew full well that his movie was racist, but he didn’t care and didn’t take any steps to make it less racist.
False: Disneyland is removing Donald Trump from its “Room of the President”
This outrage bait comes from the “satirical” website Mouse Trap News, a channel that disseminates a variety of fake news designed to appeal to modern conservatives’ hatred of Disney. Donald Trump will remain in the Hall of Presidents, so bored visitors looking for an air-conditioned seat will be able to appreciate his animatronic likeness. (Also, for the record, Disneyland has no plans to serve human meat in any of its restaurants or eateries , Moana is not “Disney’s first transgender princess ,” and Mickey Mouse is not set to star in Season 4 of The Mandalorian . )
Truth: Richard Nixon loved Disneyland
Until recently, our most corrupt president (as far as we know), Richard Nixon, was also a huge Disney fan . He visited Disneyland several times, oversaw the opening of the monorail when he was vice president, and when he was president, invited Disneyland’s Golden Horseshoe revue to perform at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner. (I’m sure they delighted the cynical DC political reporters.) But the best crossover between Disney and Nixon is the fact that Nixon’s famous “I’m not a crook” speech was delivered on the grounds of Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Florida.
False: Lemmings are committing mass suicide
This is not a Disney myth, but one that Disney helped spread. The misconception that lemmings deliberately kill themselves when their population reaches a certain level existed before Disney’s 1958 “documentary” The White Wilderness , but the film cemented the lie in the popular imagination by showing footage of hundreds of lemmings leaping from a cliff to his death. Except the lemmings were actually pushed off the cliff to film the footage. To be fair, the Walt Disney Family Museum says photographer and director James R. Simon Simon doctored the footage without Walt Disney’s approval.
Half-truth: Walt Disney’s last words were “Kurt Russell”
While he didn’t mutter “Kurt Russell” on his deathbed (again, as far as we know), the actor’s name was the last thing Walt Disney wrote before he was rushed to the hospital, where he died due to complications from lung cancer. . At the time of Disney’s death, Russell was a 15-year-old actor filming on the set of Disney’s Then You See It, Now You Don’t. Russell’s name is written in Walt’s handwriting on a piece of paper with the printed title “TV Projects in Production: Ready for Production or Possible for Extension and Story.” Nobody knows exactly why. “I assume, like everyone else, that he was talking about some movie he was thinking about casting me in… I don’t know what to think about it other than that,” Russell once told Barbara Walters .
Lie: No one is allowed to die at a Disney park.
It is widely rumored that Disney is so protective of the image of its parks that it moves dead or dying people off-site to ensure that no one is ever declared dead at a Disney park. Although Disney has never publicly disclosed its internal policy regarding guest deaths, people have actually been declared dead at various times at Disney parks over the years.
Truth: The Beatles broke up at Disney World.
Although the end of the Beatles was not related to the ill-fated trip to the Matterhorn, it is true that the Beatles broke up at the Disney resort. John Lennon signed the legal papers finalizing his exit from the group while on vacation at the Polynesian Disney World resort. If you want, you can even stay in the Beatles Death Room .
False: Walt Disney’s will included a clause promising $10 million to the first man to become pregnant.
This is a really strange rumor that spread via email in the 2000s. There seems to be no apparent reason to believe that this could be the case—Disney never said or did anything in his life to suggest that he was interested in seeing this scenario come to fruition—but there is some something strangely plausible. It just seems true. But that’s not true . From what we know about Disney’s will, he actually left 45% of his estate to his immediate family, 45% to the Disney Foundation, and 10% to his sister and nieces and nephews.
Truth: Harlan Ellison Fired from Disney for Simulating Disney Characters’ Sex
Fiery science-fiction writer Harlan Ellison once worked for Disney, and, according to an autobiographical essay in his 1982 book In Search of a Nightmare , Ellison’s tenure ended after he jokingly suggested that Disney make a porn film with starring him. famous creations. He then acted out the sounds that various Disney characters would make in said porn film. What Ellison didn’t realize was that Roy Disney was sitting at the next table and overheard the whole routine. Roy clearly didn’t find it funny, and Ellison was fired.