Disney will not be adding the 1946 animation Song Of The South to its Disney+ streaming service because it is “not appropriate in today’s world,” the company’s executive chairman Bob Iger said this week.
Iger made the remarks during Disney’s annual shareholder’s meeting on Wednesday when he was asked a question as to whether the full Disney library will be available on the service.
“I’ve felt, for as long as I’ve been CEO, that Song of the South – even with a disclaimer – was just not appropriate in today’s world,” he said. “Given the depictions in some of those films, to bring them out today without some form or another, without offending people. So we’ve decided not to do that.”
The film, which is nearly 75 years old, has become highly controversial in recent years for its depiction of black Americans working on a plantation in Georgia after the Civil War.
Works such as Dumbo (1941), which involves references to Jim Crow and uses outdated racial imagery, will not be cut from the service but will include a disclaimer that reads: “This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”
Other films receiving the “outdated” warnings include The Jungle Book (1967), Fantasia (1940), Swiss Family Robinson (1940, 1960), The Aristocats (1970). Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955) and The Sign of Zorro (1958). Mickey Mouse shorts from the 1920s all the way through to the 1940s are also flagged.
Disney+ is set to launch in the United Kingdom on 24th March and will feature a wide array of content ranging from Disney and Pixar classics and The Star Wars franchise to all 30 seasons of The Simpsons and hundreds of other television shows to boot.
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