Peh said:
Luke888 said: Wasn't there an on-going joke about Disney hating Jews ? |
Walt Disney was an anti-semit himself. The Disney Company doesn't follow his view, obviously.
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Not exactly. The evidence for Disney being anti-semitic is pretty sparse. There is like one or two cartoons with Mickey dressed as a Hasidic Jew or something.
The creator of Goofy also claimed that Walt was a member of a pro-Nazi organization. But, the two of them had a long history of animosity and legal disputes. Nobody else has corroborated these accounts.
Disney did attend meetings of an antisemitic organization, the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. The organization was largely anti-semitic, but it's mission statement was against Communism and Fascism, which Disney was very much against.
Disney employed a lot of Jews at his studios. There are some accounts of off color jokes, but on the whole, Disney seemed to treat them well. Several animators have spoken against the allegations. His daughter dated a Jewish guy, reportedly with no objections from walt. He made a bunch of donations to Jewish charities. Interestingly, Walt was named man of the year by B'nai B'rith, a prominent Jewish organization, in 1955. Before giving him the award, they investigated the claims of anti-semitism and judged them to be unfounded. Of Walt's biographers, none of them seemed to believe him to be anti-semitic.
Ultimately, this kind of shows why Disney dropped Pewdiepie. Because things are often blown out of proportion, and something like associating with anti-semites (or even perceived anti-semites) can spark a rumor that people will believe for over 50 years. The evidence suggests that Disney was not anti-semitic.