The Walt Disney Company sometimes goes out of its way to seek controversy.
For the 250th celebration of America, Magic Kingdom and Epcot have introduced special fireworks shows that played for the first time on July 3rd and will return for July 4th. But most guests were probably not prepared for Epcot to begin their nighttime extravaganza with the lyrics to an anthem that has been divisive… after all, most Americans don’t believe in a white anthem or a black anthem or a brown anthem. There’s just the anthem that is supposed to guide all of us together as Americans towards a better future together. But like the NFL before them, Disney went out of its way to remind us the company believes in a different kind of USA.
Woke Disney can’t help itself… starts its 250th 4th of July fireworks at Epcot with the lyrics of the “black national anthem” Lift Every Voice and Sing…
They want us to be woke and divided. pic.twitter.com/r6tlIRRvDi
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) July 4, 2026
There’s nothing inherently wrong with the lyrics of “Lift Every Voice and Sing”. But it’s also a piece of music that is used to remind Americans that we aren’t united. We’re not e pluribus unum. We’re oppressed and oppressor. The American National Anthem is somehow inherently insufficient for the country and all its peoples. And so, on the eve of America’s quarter-of-a-thousand-years, Walt’s ideologically captured company made sure to remind us they’re devoted at every turn to being political.
Again, the history of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is beautiful. Its original intent is wholesome, lovely and good. But the current use of it as a separate anthem is an invitation to a society that has divided peoples, resentment and factions. Can you imagine if “Amazing Grace” was declared as the Christian National Anthem of America? It would be the same idea: taking a wonderful song of tremendous inspiration and then using it to purposefully create conflict through an erroneous designation.
In the end, it’s just another example of the Dow 30 Disney taking its investors on unnecessary rides into controversies it seems to always want. Is it the end of the world? No. But it represents why this company continues to languish in the same place the stock has been for 15 years while other companies have seen tremendous, expected growth over the same period. Uncle Walt’s magnificent corporation has changed from a family entertainment proposition to a constant reminder that they’re focused on earning one-sided political points over investment value.
