Disneyland celebrated its 67th birthday yesterday. One important person — the most important person — was missing.
Every year since 1955, Disneyland Resort has featured the opening day speech by the company’s founder, Walt Disney himself. It is an iconic and meaningful monologue, even if only lasts a few seconds. The dedication speech has been played at anniversaries of Disneyland’s opening over and over and over… yet yesterday, on the park’s 67th birthday, Walt was finally absent. Perhaps the symbolic candle in his theme park apartment flickered in sorrow.
Many have wondered over the last few years whether or not the new ideological push inside The Walt Disney Company would begin to come after Walt at some point. He is, after all, an old white man. He was rich. He was commanding in his presence. We’ve seen some attempts at besmirching his legacy. He worked very hard to produce a film that would feature an African American man in the best way possible at a time when that was quite difficult given the attitudes of some regions — and he did so in such a way that James Baskett won the very first Academy Award for an African American male actor. Today you can’t even find a copy of the movie which achieved such a feat and the ride for which it pays homage is scheduled for demolition. If you go onto Disney+ to watch many of Walt’s pride and joy creations, they often will start with a warning to you that they are unacceptable by today’s standards. So it is not a surprise that Disneyland, Walt’s most beloved creation, removed him from the celebration yesterday. It is deeply sad, and even a little revolting, but it is not surprising anymore.
https://twitter.com/OrangeGrove55/status/1548863761053732864
Here is Walt’s speech struck from the happiest place on Earth that he, himself, built:
Unless this ship turns around soon, we can continue to expect more erasures of one of America’s greatest entrepeneurs, inventers, and dreamers.
We still love ya’, Walt.
For all the latest news that should be fun, keep reading That Park Place. As always, drop a comment down below.
