Disney Plus is bringing back some of the most loved classic animated movies to its massive catalogue. But that comes with opening a Pandora's box of early 90s titles with controversial elements, similar to the original Dumbo.
For those unaware, the original Dumbo movie, a Disney film that didn't age well had a scene that caused a massive outcry. The infamous sequence shows Dumbo encounter a group of crows depicted with African American stereotypes throughout via different speech pattern and jazzy songs.
The main bird in the scene named Jim Crow was surprisingly voiced by white actor Cliff Edwards. The decried moment is still controversial and was earlier reported that Disney would remove the scene from Dumbo.
Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case as Comicbook reveals that Disney Plus, which is currently available in the US has not removed the scene. It looks like the studio has included the uncut version of the film for streaming with a cautionary text.
The official description reads, "This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions." Other Disney animated titles like the original Lady and the Tramp, Fantasia, and even live-action films like The Ugly Dachshund, etc had similar text, warning viewers.
Disney hasn't been ignorant of all such sensitive elements from its past films. A sexual misconduct joke made in the 1999 hit Toy Story 2's end credits has been removed for the streaming service. The scene shows antagonist character Stinky Pete offer two Barbie dolls a role in the next Toy Story movie.
The Mouse House is also aware of some of its most problematic films from the past such as the 1946 musical, Song of the South. The hybrid/animated live-action is highly likely to never be included in the streaming service due to its nature of racist depictions of African Americans. Disney Plus is currently available in Canada, the US and Netherlands.
