Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Disney adds disclaimer to movies on Disney+ with racist caricatures

Disney+ debuted with all the classic Disney animated movies you know and love like Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp, Fantasia, and more. Still, many of these films and others come with a disclaimer about its racist content. 

Since its launch on Tuesday, subscribers are noticing certain films’ descriptions come with a disclaimer added by Disney. The disclaimer reads, “This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”

Of course, it’s no surprise that films from decades ago contained racist content in them, but many users took to Twitter to voice their opinions on Disney’s approach to it, comparing how Disney handled the content to how Warner Bros. handled its older cartoons. 

Disney, as ever, is glacially resistant to recognize any wrongdoing on their part, ever, in any circumstances, much preferring to hide their racist past in the Disney Vault when possible, or paper it over with remakes that pretend the problematic shit was never there. https://t.co/zrwKFBKv3x

— TBSkyen (@TBSkyen) November 13, 2019

How much time do you think Disney spent in the past year screening its old movies for racist and sexist jokes before putting them on Disney+?

— David Gardner (@byDavidGardner) October 14, 2019

There was speculation that Disney would change up some of its more outdated content in some of its films, or omit it from the movie altogether. One particular scene was the crow scene from Dumbo in which one of the crows is named Jim Crow — a derogatory term that was used toward black people and a reference to the laws that established segregation. 

One scene that Disney did decide to omit was the Sunflower character in Fantasia. Sunflower is a black centaurette whose role is to assist the other centaurettes in getting ready, and it’s pretty clear that it is a racist caricature. 

Other Disney movies that viewers are now realizing were racist this whole time are Peter Pan, for its depiction of Native Americans, and The Jungle Book, for the orangutans as being racist caricatures. Still, it’s important to remember that a majority of these original animated movies were made between the 1940s and 1960s. 

Turns out Disney DIDN’T censor the crows from Dumbo, and they’ve included a disclaimer about outdated sensibilities. Good. Yes, they’re racist, but it would have messed with the flow of the movie, and it’s better to learn from history instead of pretend it didn’t happen.

— Darla Dimple (@PowerLoudGirl) November 12, 2019

Despite subscribers’ realization that some of the favorite films they grew up with had racist tendencies, Disney+ is off to a pretty good start since it launched. The Walt Disney Company said that the new streaming service had seen 10 million sign-ups since its launch. 

The service launched on Tuesday in the U.S., Canada, and the Netherlands with more than 600 TV shows and movies. 

Digital Trends reached out to Disney to comment on the “cultural depictions” disclaimer and how many movies on the streaming service have it, but we haven’t received a response. 

Editors' Recommendations

Allison Matyus
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Allison Matyus is a general news reporter at Digital Trends. She covers any and all tech news, including issues around social…
3 sci-fi movies on Peacock you need to watch in November
Jean-Claude Van Damme in Timecop.

Generally, we tend to give streamers the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their film libraries. But there's no getting around the fact that the science fiction selection on Peacock is awful. For every Back to the Future, there are dozens of low-budget schlock-fests like Atlantic Rim, Lord of the Elves, and Dino King. Those are all real movies on Peacock, but they aren't worth your time. And unfortunately, there's nothing new on Peacock in November in the popular genre.

With such a thin selection to work with, it can be truly challenging to find sci-fi flicks on Peacock that are worth watching. But after an exhaustive search, we've come up with the following three sci-fi movies on Peacock that you need to watch in November.
Freejack (1992)

Read more
UFC live stream: How to watch UFC from anywhere, legally
how to stream ufc fights online 246  mcgregor v cowboy

High-speed internet has made it easy and economical for millions of people to "cut the cord" and ditch traditional cable or satellite TV in favor of online streaming services. But due to regional broadcasting restrictions, sports fans had to wait a while longer to enjoy live and on-demand content. Movies and TV shows have been available on services like Netflix, Hulu, and Prime Video for about a decade now, and today's 4K smart TVs even come with built-in internet connectivity and pre-loaded streaming apps -- but only recently have broadcasters like ESPN done the same thing for live-action sports, including UFC live streams like UFC 295 tomorrow.

The world’s biggest mixed martial arts fighting league has joined with ESPN to bring you all of your favorite UFC content in 2023, both online and on TV. Fox previously held exclusive broadcasting rights to UFC through 2018, but starting in 2019, the contract went to ESPN. ESPN rolled out its own premium streaming service called ESPN+ in the spring of 2018. This is great news for MMA fans, as the UFC's tight relationship with ESPN now makes it easy to stream UFC fights online. Although some fight cards are broadcast on ESPN's TV channel and UFC Fight Pass, ESPN+ is the only venue for watching UFC PPVs online, including the UFC 295 live stream. This means that for the foreseeable future, all Ultimate Fighting Championship content is airing only on this network, and if you're looking for the best way to watch every UFC live stream online, ESPN+ is what you need.
Watch the UFC live stream on ESPN Plus

Read more
3 action movies on Hulu you need to watch in November
Norman Reedus and Wesley Snipes in Blade II.

If you're coming to Hulu for your action fix, then you've come to the right place. Hulu may be owned and operated by Disney, but this streaming service is about as far from the Mickey Mouse Club as you can get. Hulu has all of the R-rated action flicks that just wouldn't fit in at Disney+, Deadpool movies and Logan notwithstanding.

This month, two of our action picks are based on comic books, while the third is an all-timer in the action genre that won't be hanging around on Hulu for much longer. These are the three action movies on Hulu that you need to watch in November.
Blade II (2001)

Read more