Register
Home > Movies & TV > The 9 Most Racist Disney Characters

The 9 Most Racist Disney Characters

By Ben Joseph November 16, 2007 881,506 views
article image

These old Disney movies are a little bit like your aging Uncle Frank. Honestly, he means well when he points out that Will Smith is "well-spoken." It's just that he, like the assemblage of clips below, dates from a time when people were unfairly characterized by their ethnic background (the acceptable methods are, of course, religion, geography, sexual preference and income).

#9.
The Merchant from Aladdin

The opening musical sequence from the hugely popular 1992 animated film had to be edited due to protest from Arab-American groups for saying about the Middle East what most of us were merely thinking.

Lesson Learned:
The Middle East is a barren wasteland where the justice system runs on a clear and simple limb-removal policy.

Best (Worst?) Moment:
"Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face" is the offending line, which was changed on the DVD to the much less provocative "Where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense." Whatever. Our question: In a city full of Arabic men and women, where the hell does a midwestern-accented, white piece of cornbread like Aladdin come from? Here he is next to the more, um, ethnic looking villain, Jafar.

#8.
Sebastian from The Little Mermaid

In this 1989 film, a Jamaican-sounding crab teaches Ariel that life is better "Under the Sea," because underwater you don't have to get a job.

Lesson Learned:

Up on the shore they work all day
Out in the sun they slave away
While we devotin'
Full time to floatin'
Under the sea!

Are we reading too much into it? Do you see anything wrong with how they've drawn "the duke of soul" at 1:57?

Still too subtle? How about at 2:01 when the "blackfish" appears?

Best (Worst?) Moment:
As far as Disney movies go, you've got two choices: unforgivably offensive and just slightly racially insensitive. Sebastian definitely falls into the latter category. So while making Sebastian a charming, party-loving stereotype is a baby step forward for Disney, it's still a stumble backwards for civil rights.

#7.
The Crows from Dumbo

In this 1941 classic, Dumbo the flying elephant runs into a band of jive-talking black crows who sing, "I'd be done see'n about everything/when I see an elephant fly!"

Lesson Learned:
Come on, blackbirds acting in a manner stereotypically assigned to African-Americans isn't that offensive. At least they didn't just get some white guy to do his best "black voice." Oh, really? They did? And, they called the lead character "Jim Crow?" Um, hey, look over there! It's a convincing, logical end to this argument!

Best (Worst?) Moment:
So many too choose from. The crows are very specifically depicted as poor and uneducated. They're constantly smoking; they wear pimptastic hats; and they're experts on all things "fly," so it's really a team effort contributing to the general minstrel-show feel to the whole number. You could pretty much pause this video at any second and use it as evidence in your hate-crime lawsuit against Disney.

For its time, though, the portrayal of the crows was almost progressive. The crows band together and help Dumbo learn to fly, so they're counted among the heroes of the film. Remember, this was just a couple of years after somebody introduced a bill to outlaw lynching and congress voted it down. So, you know, you take what you can get.

#6.
King Louie from The Jungle Book

Having outgrown the crude portrayal of African-Americans as black crows, in 1967 Disney decides to portray them as monkeys instead.

Lesson Learned:
All animals in the jungle speak in proper British accents. Except, of course, for the jive-talking, gibberish-spouting monkeys. Did we mention they desperately want to become "real people?"

Best (Worst?) Moment:
Fine, so an ape singing, "I wanna be like you" might be a little subtle, in a "we own multiple copies of Catcher in the Rye" conspiracy theory kind of way. Still, considering the author of the The Jungle Book also thought up "the white man's burden", we don't think it's too much of a stretch.

#5.
The Siamese Twin Gang from Chip n' Dale Rescue Rangers

Overt racism against African-Americans was obviously intolerable by the time this Chip n' Dale series began in 1989. Overt racism against Asians, luckily, was still on the table.

Lesson Learned:
Even as criminals, Asian-Americans immigrants, represented here by a gang of cats, have become integral parts of American culture. Kidding! They own a laundromat, run an illegal, basement gambling operation and speak in horribly mangled "Engrish." It's like a designer of World War II propaganda posters accidentally quantum leaped into the body of a late '80s cartoon writer.

The video becomes cringe-worthy about six minutes in:

Best (Worst?) Moment:
The Siamese Cats sell their karate expert Juice Lee, a Japanese fighting fish, for a suitcase full of dead fish. If you can't find something offensive in that sentence, congratulations. You're a cyborg.

#4.
Sunflower the Centaur from Fantasia

Of all the items on this list, this is the one Disney has tried the hardest to make us forget.

Lesson Learned:
Even in Fantasia's beautiful, magical landscape, African centaurs are hoof-polishing handmaidens for prettier, Aryan centaurs. Also, 1940 was a great year to be a centaur fetishist and/or Don Imus.

Best (Worst?) Moment:
It was insulting enough for Disney to include the smiling servant stereotype to begin with, but, to make matters worse, they started categorically denying Sunflower's existence with the Fantasia re-release in 1960. How does that possibly make things better? "No, you misunderstand. In our perfect, Fantasia world, Africans aren't servants. They don't fucking exist."

#3.
The Indians from Peter Pan

In this charming musical number, the "Red Man" explains his people's history and culture.

Lesson Learned:
Why do Native Americans ask you "how?" According to the song, it's because the Native American always thirsts for knowledge. OK, that's not so bad, we guess. What gives the Native Americans their distinctive coloring? The song says a long time ago, a Native American blushed red when he kissed a girl, and, as science dictates, it's been part of their race's genetic make up since. You see, there had to be some kind of event to change their skin from the normal, human color of "white."

Best (Worst?) Moment:
It's a tie between Tiger Lilly's traditional Native American hussy dance, and the number of times Native American's misogynistic tendencies are played for laughs (hint: It's more than three!)

#2.
Uncle Remus from Song of the South

The tales of Br'er Rabbit are relayed by kindly old Uncle Remus, a black man happily working on a plantation in the post-Civil War South. Disney has never released this one on home video, for some reason.

Lesson Learned:
The late 1800s were a great time to be African-American and possibly on acid.

Best (Worst?) Moment:
Less eerie than any imaginary singing birds is what's not in the film. It's as if someone made a children's musical about Jews in post-World War II Germany that had a number titled "Hey! Nothing Bad Has Happened to Us, Ever." Also failing to reach the screen: When the movie had its world premiere in 1946 in Atlanta, James Baskett, the actor who played Remus, was not allowed to attend. Zip-a-dee-doo-dah!

#1.
Thursday from Mickey Mouse and the Boy Thursday (Book)

In this forgotten Mickey Mouse book from 1948, Mickey gets a crate full of West African bananas, and finds an African inside instead! Ha!" The savage soon is confused by Mickey's human lifestyle and commits acts of random violence.

Lesson Learned:
"What's the deal with Africans? If they're not trying to eat it or throw a spear at it, they're worshiping it as a some sort of tribal deity, am I right?"

Best (Worst?) Moment:
Where to begin? The book compiles almost every offensive preconception of Africa lurking in the American subconscious.

Some choice quotes:

"Well, well." Mickey laughed ... "So I'm supposed to be your governess and nursemaid, and you can't even talk!"

"Let me see. A genuine African native," Mickey murmured. "Perhaps I should start showing him off."

Perhaps the most depressing part is that this was somebody's idea of tolerance, back in the ideallic '40s:

"Poor little guy! He just makes mistakes. He doesn't know any better. I'll just have to be patient and teach him the right way to do things," said Mickey.

You may also enjoy Ben Joseph's 10 Most Ridiculous Overseas Rip-Offs of American Films.



Recommended for Your Pleasure

948 Comments

Ha! I do love Disney, but this article is still great. Also, there's two things about disney that really freak me out.

1. it seems that in every movie, one main character is either an orphan, missing a parent, severely depressed, or batshit crazy.
2. HOLY CHRIST, has anyone else noticed that during the whole wedding ceremony in THE LITTLE MERMAID, the priest has a raging hard on?

7/3/2009 2:56:52 PM
skyeatsali

Whoever decided to write this article need's to have there head checked!
Just because your life sucks doesn't give you the right to trash on Disney
it is people like you that are truly morons. GET A LIFE LOSER!
This comes from the same type of people that think oh poor kid touching Micheal Jackson. Weak minding individuals! Why not move on to a real issue dumb ass! and stop f*****g whining about re tarted crap!

7/3/2009 12:23:27 AM
masterdecoy

Heh. You guys are all chatting about racism. While Disney is probably really racist, I just thought the article was funny. The Aladdin one was my favorite. "In a place full of Arabic men and women, where does a piece of cornbread like Aladdin come from."

6/27/2009 9:31:37 AM
Souljapigeon

I knew about numbers 10-2 and was horrified at the racism in those. but unfortunately, number 1 is not as racist as it seems.

it's a spin-off from the novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. Robinson is a sailor who crashes on a desert island and meets there a native who comes to be known as Friday (notice that the native in the Mickey book is named Thursday). All of the quotes mentioned above as being highly racist are almost direct quotes from Robinson Crusoe. By the way, Robinson Crusoe is a classic novel that was published in 1713 so obviously it came from a very different time. Unfortunately the "blatant racism" you see portrayed in the number 1 most racist disney moment was not even their idea at all. That's like criticizing someone of animal cruelty in a play of Moby Dick. Sorry but that moment doesn't even remotely cut it.

6/23/2009 8:40:41 PM
n0harmhesarmed

Wow, people do get uppity around here. Great article.

Disney has alot of wonderful stories and some that are decidedly racist. They've done so much over so many years, you can pick and choose what is right for your family. As the white father of a black son, I can turn on Cars and me sure I won't have to have an uncomfortable conversation. But when he's older, I look forward to hearing what he thinks about how blacks are portrayed in some of the films.

As for some of the weirdness on these commentd, nothing seems to make a white person more defensive than to call them on their lack of cultural competence.

Yes, it is pretty obvious that most of the commentors are white. You really can discern alot of bias and world view from them.

That's what it means to be an ignorant American! Ask any non-American. We're all just a bunch of self-serving, sexually repressed, gun-toting, religious zealots that assume our world view is the right one anyway, right?

Well, historically anyway. We've moved past these stereotypes by now, surely!

Then again, culture is a hybrid of your family, society, and exposure to difference.

6/16/2009 8:57:22 PM
ColoradoDan

Just for future reference, the movie of the Jungle Book was nothing like the book. And Kipling was far from racist; try reading Gunga Din sometime.

6/14/2009 2:02:24 PM
stalky

First of all there are many aspects to any movie, show, book, magazine or publication. 1) is disney racist? there are stereo types portrayed, yes. there are also subliminal messages, this is developes images and association of stereo types at any early age. one more thing on racism... to judge someone's character soley based on the geographic location of there ancestary is completely ridiculous.especially in america. most people that live in the U.S. had parents grand parents and great grandparents born here.

6/11/2009 3:09:42 PM
JustListen

I must say this was a very intersting article. I am not shocked though that, one, disney has alot of racist overtone in their movies and, two, that people can't see how this stuff is racist. Oh and no one is keeping the movies from their kids. I do agree that as a parent if you feel that it is appropriate to show your kids then by all means do so but please explain to them why the fish in the Little Mermaid movie has a black face or why Uncle Remus wasn't even allowed at the showing of his own movie or even why Native American's are sexually charged even though they are barley around today or even why Aladdin looks and sounds like a fresh faced American boy. It's to hard not to point out the obvious in these movies. Also one must take into account when most of these movies were done which was during a time when Jim Crow was alive and kicking and segregation was the new pink. So people can continue to sit and ignore the reality of the situation all they want but the truth is most of the films and movies released were racist and its sad because the saying does go if you don't learn from your past your bound to repeat it. So don't get mad when little Mary is sent home from school because she called some little boy the n-word and you are trying to figure out where she learned that from because she couldn't have learned it from you. Again I am not saying you can't show your kids the movies, I myself am a Disney lover and just so happen to be of color, but you can't sit here and tell me that the little cartoon with the centaur pic-a-ninny in it isn't racist either.

6/11/2009 2:14:34 PM
wrightcy

i'm not 100% about this, i mean would you concider Quentin Tarantino a racist? is films are full of racial preferences!

6/8/2009 7:58:07 PM
Partywood

P.S. This article was funny. Though, as Chattybottie stated, these movies and cartoons should have been left well enough alone. Of course people realize they are sometimes racist, but that's not the point. They're for little kids, they should be able to watch it, and when they ask their parents about the racist parts, it's really up to the parents to make sure their kids don't become racist bitches and bastards.

6/2/2009 9:38:09 PM
Serii

Wow tryinovaova, way to go for epic fail. Before you start bashing on another persons 'ignorance,' make sure that it doesn't look like you type like a three year old.

6/2/2009 9:33:54 PM
Serii

This is such a hilarious article! I love the bit about the crows and jungle book.
I can't believe how overtly racist Disney has been! LOL!!
Doesn't make me love the films any less though!
Did you know Disney now has a black princess...http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1162718/Disney-feature-black-princess--critics-complain-falls-love-WHITE-prince.html

5/27/2009 3:44:22 PM
phoebebb

When I was a child and saw Uncle Remus, I didn't think a thing about that movie....I have a very ratially mixed family and no one thinks we're racist. Watching a black boy run around a tree till he melted, was just fun...he was just another kid, no one noticed color......Until now, when everyone is shouting about this cartoon being racist......Speedy Gonzales was a hoot.....Brar Rabbit was cute, now all these great cartoons and books are being kept from kids! How silly is that.......this is what teaches the very thing people are yelling about! If no one called attention to "it" there wouldn't be any problems. Politically correct be darned.

5/25/2009 5:27:23 PM
Chattybottie

perpetuating the idea of racism by saying it will never go away no matter what you do, so you might as well accept it? that makes you enormously racist, doc.

i thought this blog was great. hilarious and well written.

5/24/2009 11:26:46 PM
songagainstsex

"wow....people are really stupid on this......hmm its kinda obvious that most of yall are white"

Tryinovaova, you win the award for most racist comment on a thread about racism.

5/16/2009 1:13:51 AM
mjelliott9

Hummmmm, I remember two other black centaurs in Fantasia. At least in the VHS version of the movie that I have, they appear with Dionisius, and have the lower body stripped like zebras. They weren't steryotype blackface africans like Sunflower, though, and don't appear again after Dionisius enters, so I guess that's why nobody remembers them.
AHA found them on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kxlZ4Mcc8o&feature=related (ignore the change in the music for your own sanity), they appear at 0:54.

5/14/2009 5:17:57 PM
Sagus

wow....people are really stupid on this......hmm its kinda obvious that most of yall are white with no knowledge of how the cultures that are talked about on this page feel.... and have NOOO idea what your talking about.
I think most of you are upset because you think that since you liked the movies... the author was calling you a racist. CALM DOWN cuz he wasn't.

IF Disney made a movie involving poor white trash...THEN people would be upset. But because these are movies involving other cultures that some of you no NOTHING about... you consider it innocent fun.

Of course these movies were made when those types of comments and stereotypes were acceptable so I'm sure people back then thought nothing of it. But NOW that racism is unacceptable and we know that it's wrong... it's OK to point out some of the racist things that may have been in some of Disney's or ANY other companies movies.

Maybe some of you are right...maybe you can't call it rasicm since those types of steryotypes were ok to put in movies back then... maybe it is IGNORANCE. I think it it IGNORANCE that sparks some of the comments on here. It's sad when people have comments on things and they have no knowledge on other cultures or there feelings on things. It's also IGNORANCE that causes people to write those unnessassary hateful comments when it really isn't that serious.

WOW Ignorant People suck.... Before You Write Know What You're Talking About Losers..... Get A life

By The Way I Thought This page was really funny!!!

5/14/2009 12:31:32 PM
tryinovaova

This is so stupid. These movies are not intended to be racist; they're just cartoon kids' movies!!! People need to get a life, and quit calling everything racist. Focus on finding racism in real life and getting rid of it there, instead of searching through every movies you find for something you can call racist; no matter how big a stretch it is. Stop trying to ruin classic movies that people love. It's ignorance and idiocy like this that screw up this world; not singing dancing characters that don't even exist.



Sebastian really does not sound Jamaican, and hello? He's a musical composer. Sound like he doesn't work? For all you know, the Red Man was another color at one point, and evolved to living environment. Of course King Louie wants to be like a HUMAN, not a white person. Aladdin does look Arabic; when you watch the actual movie his skin is darker than in that crappy video clip you have.



Seriously, you need to get a life and quit trying o find bogitry where there is none. I rarely hear people of these actual races or ethnicities calling things like this racist. It's always nosy white people who want to seem worldly and sympathetic. Grow up. Plus, by saying that a Jamaican sounding person who likes life where they don't have to get a job: yeah, that's a racist statement right there. You're stereotyping; not Disney.

5/12/2009 4:01:57 PM
BlueBloods17

This was completely hilarious.
Very well written.
Thank you.

5/3/2009 9:08:06 AM
fiberglassmap

Wow really? You all need to get lives and do better things then finding racist disney charcaters. GET SOME LIVES h**o

4/27/2009 7:17:59 AM
jamesbrownfan

More on Movies & TV

Fark Logo
Recent Videos

Copyright © 2005 - 2009 Cracked Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. CRACKED, CRACKED.COM and the "CRACKED" logo are trademarks owned by Cracked Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.