Walt Disney REALLY a racist?

[MJN SEIFER]

It's quite a common rumor online, I am really wondering if anyone has any solid proof on it? I know Hittler was illedgedly a Disney fan, but where did everyone get that Disney himself was racist?

[Moon Rabbits]

Well ... (http://www.cracked.com/article_15677_the-9-most-racist-disney-characters.html)

This isn't Disney, but I've always loved it. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_wnU1mYY78)

[Rodney]

I don't know about racist, but he was definitely anti-Semitic. Seth MacFarlane expressed that on Family Guy in the premiere of this current season.

[VeloZer0]

Also consider that it was common place for people of that era to be racist.

[Imperfectionist]

Well ... (http://www.cracked.com/article_15677_the-9-most-racist-disney-characters.html)

This isn't Disney, but I've always loved it. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_wnU1mYY78)


That was absolutely class.

[Shlup]

I don't know about racist, but he was definitely anti-Semitic. Seth MacFarlane expressed that on Family Guy in the premiere of this current season.

A credible source indeed. xD

I don't think Grampa Walt was a racist.

[LunarWeaver]

I think everybody should be racist and then we'll all be the same.

[black orb]

>>> Dont worry, I think that the 80% of the world is racist, the other 20% is racist too but they dont want to admit it..:luca:

[Rad Bromance]

I don't know about racist, but he was definitely anti-Semitic.
Aside of that awful Family Guy episode, do you have any evidence of this? I've heard it time and time again that Disney was supposedly a racist anti-semetic Nazi sympathizer (even though he made anti-nazi cartoons), but no one can ever tell me where they draw that conclusion.

As far as racist, I don't think he was so much racist as he was a product of his time. Those supposed racially insensitive stereotypes were prevolent in nearly all entertainment back then. And calling the shopkeeper in Aladdin an example of racism is pretty laughable.

But it is true that Hitler said his favorite movie was Snow White and the Sever Dwarfs, which I believe is what started the baseless Anti-Semite rumor.

[Wolf Kanno]

Walt Disney was NOT Racist! - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/877357/walt_disney_was_not_racist.html?cat=37)

I think in reality, that Walt and his studio is more of a victim of the times. Most of the "Disney is a racist" stuff comes from people who grew up in an overly sensitive PC world and then proceed to look back upon older materials that was created in times where such standards were non-existent and decide that everything that is not PC automatically means that the person was a racist. To me, racism has a strong sense of maliciousness behind it and I don;t feel that really exists in any of Walt's work. Walt had several Jewish employees,and his daughter apparently dated a Jewish man. In regards to African Americans:


The final note on this subject goes to Floyd Norman, who was the only black animator working at the Mouse House during the 1950's and 60's.


"Overly sensitive people see racial or ethnic slights in every image," Norman once wrote. "And in their zeal to sanitize and pasteurize everything, they've taken all the fun out of cartoon making.
"I've had the pleasure of speaking with the late Bob Clampett about his 1943 cartoon, Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarfs (Clampett's notorious all-black take on Disney's Snow White). I've chatted with Ward Kimball about animating the crows in Walt Disney's Dumbo . . . Although some might call these comical images racially insensitive, I merely see them as funny."
Amen.


From: Was Disney Racist?: Nine Offensive Characters from Disney Cartoons (http://animatedfilms.suite101.com/article.cfm/was_disney_racist)


So I feel this is mostly a rumor that won't die and is usually perpetuated by people who probably hate Disney to begin with and are looking for reasons to rally people to their cause. :roll2

[Kossage]

Many of these negative claims of Disney being this or that actually originate from an infamous over-the-top book called Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince by Marc Eliot which is considered a joke among academics. It's worth a read for entertainment's sake, though, because some of Eliot's claims are absolutely crazy. :p

If you want to learn how African Americans and Jews felt about working with Disney, I suggest checking out many of the online interviews with, say, Floyd Norman (a Disney animator from Walt's time who still works closely with Disney and Pixar) who discusses this topic extensively in places such as JimHillMedia.com among others.

If by any chance you want to read something which has an unbiased view of Disney as a person and which actually uses sources properly, I suggest reading Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler which is generally considered to be the most extensive Disney biography to date. Just check all those works he's cited; there are so many sources in the book that he couldn't print them all so he actually has a website with the complete list of sources. :)

[Kirobaito]

Many of these negative claims of Disney being this or that actually originate from an infamous over-the-top book called Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince by Marc Eliot which is considered a joke among academics. It's worth a read for entertainment's sake, though, because some of Eliot's claims are absolutely crazy. :p

If you want to learn how African Americans and Jews felt about working with Disney, I suggest checking out many of the online interviews with, say, Floyd Norman (a Disney animator from Walt's time who still works closely with Disney and Pixar) who discusses this topic extensively in places such as JimHillMedia.com among others.

If by any chance you want to read something which has an unbiased view of Disney as a person and which actually uses sources properly, I suggest reading Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler which is generally considered to be the most extensive Disney biography to date. Just check all those works he's cited; there are so many sources in the book that he couldn't print them all so he actually has a website with the complete list of sources. :)
LOL, I know Marc Eliot. I didn't know he wrote that.

[Moon Rabbits]

<s>This isn't Disney, but I've always loved it. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_wnU1mYY78)</s>

I take it back! That is a disney cartoon. I didnt know Donald Duck was Disney > _ >