The daughter of a legendary Hollywood pioneer is fighting every day to save the legacy of African American trailblazers. Can she bring back Zip-a-dee-doo-dah?
She is the daughter of legendary voice actor and trailblazing African American Hollywood pioneer, Nick Stewart. Now, Valarie is fighting every day to save the legacy of her father and all his peers who took the first, most difficult steps towards African American access to acting roles in film and theater. Although people like Nick Stewart, James Baskett and Hattie McDaniel were heroes who faced a battle few of us can imagine, their stardom has diminished in public recognition as the movies they played in are now judged too problematic for general consumption. Some may have won Oscars and set the stage for all the minority celebrities we see today, but you’ll be hard-pressed to see either Nick Stewart and James Baskett in Song of the South. It’s not even common to find Hattie McDaniel on a television screen anymore.
But it has gone even farther. Now, The Walt Disney Company has deemed Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, the iconic song that won the first Oscar for a song sung by an African American artist, to be “irrelevant. They’ve struck the song from Disney Parks’ playlists. You’ll not hear it on Disney Channel nor Disney+. It is melodia non-grata.
Ms. Stewart is fighting back. She’s working to save her parents’ legacy and convince Disney that Zip-a-dee-doo-dah should no longer be ignored. On her behalf, we’re including her petition below. Before getting into her petition, if you’d be interested in knowing more about her dad and his work in Song of the South and Splash Mountain, you’re welcome to view the following video:
Petition beings now. You can see it in its entirety here.
My name is Valarie Stewart. Please sign my petition to tell Disney to stop censoring the song “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah.” I’m the daughter of Nick and Edna Stewart, who founded the historic Ebony Showcase Theatre and Cultural Workshop in 1950. My father is the voice of Brer Bear in the family film “Song of the South,” and in the Splash Mountain ride at Disneyland.
WARNING
The folks at Disney are trying to manipulate all of us by using some of the oldest tricks in the book. One such trick is called an either-or fallacy or a false dilemma. Here is an important link: They created situations that caused fans to fight among themselves, They have enough money and resources to honor the past and the present without the rancor that they are encouraging.
When Disneyland celebrated its 67th Anniversary on July 17, 2022, they did not include a tradition, Walt Disney’s July 17, 1955, opening day speech, for the first time in decades.
Walt Disney, who was born in 1901, grew up being told the Uncle Remus/Brer Rabbit stories, as did my father, who was born in 1910. The film is for and about children. Diane Disney Miller was born to Walt and Lillian Disney in 1933. Diane said that Song of the South “…was a film [Walt] really wanted to do. My dad quoted so much from Uncle Remus’ logic and philosophy.” Listen and pay attention to Walt Disney’s own statements in 1946 for the truth.
An article, that I disagree with, by Kevin Polowy, Senior Correspondent, Yahoo Entertainment, titled “Silencing Song of the South: Why Disney’s most racist film remains a cultural flash point” states that in June 2020 “Disney continued to scrub the film from its history, announcing the theme park ride Splash Mountain would no longer feature characters from the film or the film’s Oscar-winning Best Song, “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,” and instead be rebranded as a Princess and the Frog-themed attraction.”
DISNEY’S ACTIONS ARE A CALCULATED AFFRONT TO BLACK HISTORY
The first week in December, they announced that the Splash Mountain ride at Walt Disney World in Florida would close on January 23, 2023, one week before Martin Luther King day and 1 week before Black History month begins. It’s a move that is insensitive to the importance of Black History and the accomplishments of the pioneering African American actors who were stars in “Song of the South.”
LYING BY OMISSION IS A LOGICAL FALLACY
Disney executives and some journalists say that Disney fans want the Splash Mountain ride to be closed because a petition to re-theme the ride garnered about 22,000 signatures. They ignore the fact that another petition opposing the retheme had 92,000 signatures by December 3. That number has grown to over 97,000 signatures and, while people are still signing it, the Disney folks are ignoring it.
The lying by omission fallacy is described at rationalwiki.org as “Lying by omission, otherwise known as exclusionary detailing, is lying by either omitting certain facts or by failing to correct a misconception. In the case of the former, an example of this would be a car salesman claiming a car to have amazing fuel economy while neglecting to mention that it has no engine and is completely immobile. In the case of the latter, it could be a situation in which a misconception exists that the claimant is aware of but fails to correct, such as a person who wanders around a hospital dressed as a doctor, offering treatment while failing to mention that she is in fact just getting a kick out of pretending to be a doctor.”
The song Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah is now censored at the Disney theme parks: Their official statement claims, “The removal of the song from Downtown Disney’s background music is part of a continuous process to deliver an environment that features stories that are relevant and inclusive.”
So they remove Zip-a-dee-doo-dah while they include (relative and inclusive?) twerking on Disney Plus, and censor Jessica Rabbit. A recent lawsuit was filed in federal court by Keith Wann for discrimination by a white sign-language interpreter. https://nypost.com/2022/11/26/broadway-interpreter-fired-for-being-white-settles-case-amid-backlash/ .
I am certain that “Song of the South” and Zip-a-dee-doo-dah are inclusive. The song is relevant because thousands of people, from diverse backgrounds, continue to love it and sing it. It is listed in AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs, a list of the top 100 songs in American cinema of the 20th century. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute on June 22, 2004, in a CBS television special hosted by John Travolta, who appeared in two films honored by the list, Saturday Night Fever and Grease. The list was created by a panel of jurors selected by AFI, who voted from a list of 400 nominated songs. It won an Academy Award for best motion picture song. Sung by James Baskett (Uncle Remus). My father was the third actor to sing the song in the movie as the voice of Brer Bear.
Some critics claim that the movie is unrealistic, and therefore racist, because it depicts “happy slaves,” while ignoring the fact that it is not about slavery and there are no slaves in the movie. In the live parts of the movie, Walt Disney wanted to show children that people could live together regardless of race or social status.
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The actor’s daughters should tweet directly at the individuals at Disney who are the cause of this. The DEI heads, managers, story group, etc. Get the idea on their walls, right in their faces. It forces them into the conundrum that they are destroying true real-life southern black american history and achievement, yet championing “diversity”, “equity” and “inclusion”. This very much exposes them as hypocrites; to the public, to Disney leaders and employees.
Unfortunately, they still wouldn’t listen. It takes public opinion to force change at major corporations.