The Change.org petition calls on Disney to to ditch its current Song of the South theme and instead re-imagine Splash Mountain around their more recent and more inclusive film The Princess and the Frog.
For those not up on their Disneyana, the log flume ride and park attraction since 1989 (1992, here in Orlando's Magic Kingdom), is based on the infamous Disney animated/live-action film Song of the South. It's an understatement to say that this 1946 film has not aged well. It's racist in its depiction of Black people. Yes, it is.
And before you start with "internet" this or "snowflake" that, keep in mind that Disney has already decided not to include Song of the South in its Disney+ streaming library and no less than CEO Bob Iger (not, in fact, noted for his crusading for social justice causes) called the film "not appropriate for today's world," according to Deadline.
The petition, which currently has nearly 10,000 signatures, to re-theme Splash Mountain can be found here.
This article first appeared at our sister publication Orlando Weekly.
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This article appears in Jun 11-17, 2020.