Racism and Sexism
Accusations of Walt Disney being tied to anti-Semitism groups have gone on for decades with people on both sides voicing their opinions. On January 4th, 2014, Meryl Streep expressed her opinion of Walt Disney being anti-Semitic when she was presenting the best actress prize to Emma Thompson for being in “Saving Mr. Banks”. In her speech, Meryl Streep said that Disney supported an anti-Semitic industry lobbying group. But in truth, the statement was referring to his involvement in the creation of the Motion Picture Alliance for Preservation of American Ideals (MPA). The group said nothing specifically about Jews and was instead intended to prevent totalitarian groups from gaining power in Hollywood, but was claimed by some people to be an anti-Semitic organization. But of the Jews who had worked with Disney almost all of them disagreed with the fact that Disney hated Jews. Many of the people who worked at the studio were Jewish and also, Disney had used more Jewish actors than any other studio at that time.
Even though there was a claim that Disney had made an anti-Semitic remark and had (allegedly) fired an employee because he was Jewish, it is hard to find hardcore evidence that Disney was actually anti-Semitic. Many think that even though Disney was not anti-Semitic himself, he chose to surround himself with people who were and was then claimed anti-Semitic by association.
Also in Meryl Streep’s speech she spoke of Disney being sexist and not really liking women in general. At one point, one of Disney’s chief animators said, “He [Disney] didn’t trust women, or cats.” Due to the wording of the statement, this could suggest that he was joking, but for all we know, there could’ve been some truth to it. There was also a letter that Disney’s was accused of writing a letter in 1938 to a potential employee who was a woman in which he said, “Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that task is performed entirely by young men. For this reason, girls are not considered for the training school." But even so, the policy of women not being considered for many jobs was common for the time period and therefore, Walt Disney wasn’t truly at fault for this and shouldn’t be blamed for following the normal standards for the time.
Even though there was a claim that Disney had made an anti-Semitic remark and had (allegedly) fired an employee because he was Jewish, it is hard to find hardcore evidence that Disney was actually anti-Semitic. Many think that even though Disney was not anti-Semitic himself, he chose to surround himself with people who were and was then claimed anti-Semitic by association.
Also in Meryl Streep’s speech she spoke of Disney being sexist and not really liking women in general. At one point, one of Disney’s chief animators said, “He [Disney] didn’t trust women, or cats.” Due to the wording of the statement, this could suggest that he was joking, but for all we know, there could’ve been some truth to it. There was also a letter that Disney’s was accused of writing a letter in 1938 to a potential employee who was a woman in which he said, “Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that task is performed entirely by young men. For this reason, girls are not considered for the training school." But even so, the policy of women not being considered for many jobs was common for the time period and therefore, Walt Disney wasn’t truly at fault for this and shouldn’t be blamed for following the normal standards for the time.