Woke Disney has taken yet another step to erase its history in the name of wokeness. This time, the iconic song from Disney’s 1946 movie Song of the South, Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, has been removed by the woke company from Disneyland’s “Magic Happens parade.”
Officials at Disney’s California amusement park, Disneyland, confirmed the change in parade songs to theLos Angeles Times, telling the outlet that the song had been removed.
Variety reports that the removal of the song from the parade is coming alongside Disney’s decision to remove Splash Mountain from Disney World, located in Orlando, because the ride included imagery from Song of the South. In that outlet’s words
The change in the parade follows plans to close the park’s classic ride Splash Mountain, which was designed with references to “Song of the South.” The attraction will be reconfigured to feature themes and iconography from the 2009 feature “The Princess and the Frog.”
Splash Mountain was shuttered at Florida’s Walt Disney World resort in January, though the Anaheim edition remains in operation.
Variety also reported on the removal of Splash Mountain when that move was announced in 2020, saying:
In its current form, Splash Mountain incorporates characters and songs from “Song of the South.” Though the ride draws from a film from the 1940s, Splash Mountain was not conceived until the 1980s. The ride opened at Disneyland in 1989. Soon after, it was added to Walt Disney World in Florida and other Disney parks around the world.
“Song of the South” takes place in the southern United States during the Reconstruction era. The story follows a young white boy who befriends an older Black man that works on a plantation and tells stories of his adventures with animals. The film has drawn criticism for drawing on racist stereotypes in its portrayal of freed slaves, as well as its ahistorical conception of the plantation system as a harmonious agreement between Black and white Americans.
So apparently anything not overtly hostile to the history of the South is unacceptable to woke Disney, which hasn’t been put in its place by DeSantis much as he might want to claim otherwise.
The woke Disney decision to close the ride followed the creation of a Change.org petition that called for its cancellation, garnering just 21,000 signatures. The petition said “Splash Mountain has never included depictions of slaves or any racist elements and is based solely on historical African folktales that families of all ethnicities have been enjoying for nearly a century. It is absurd to pander to a small group of ‘Disney haters’ that don’t understand the story, and re-theme such a nostalgic ride.”Meanwhile, a counter-petition defending the ride garnered over 99,000 signatures. But, as is usual, the woke voices drowned out the voices of reason.
Breitbart, reporting on the song Disney decided to remove in the name of wokeness, notes that “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” entered the American zeitgeist in 1946 when black American actor James Baskett performed it in the part-animated/part-live action movie Song of the South. Baskett would make history by becoming the first black man to win an Oscar for his portrayal of Uncle Remus and “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” would go on to earn its rightful place in the American songbook.”
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