A Lost Dream of Mickey
Charles Johnson
Mon May 21, 2007 at 12:45 pm PDT • Views: 378
I had a dream in which the Disney Corporation responded to Hamas’ hideous abuse of their trademark icon Mickey Mouse with an all-new cartoon featuring Mickey himself, and Minnie, and Goofy and Donald and Daisy too, in a pointed and insightful, yet wacky and improbable adventure that mocked the Hamas goons mercilessly while violating all the laws of nature. Man, that was great!
And then I awoke: Disney Explains Reaction to Hamas Show.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - The Walt Disney Co. didn’t speak out when Hamas militants used a Mickey Mouse look-alike to preach Islamic domination because the company felt it would be ineffective, Disney’s chief executive said Monday.
Disney CEO Robert Iger said he and other executives considered ways to react to the recent Hamas show for children that featured someone dressed in what appeared to be a Mickey Mouse costume, railing against Israel and the United States in a high-pitched cartoonish voice.
“We didn’t mobilize our forces and seek to either have the clip taken down or to make any broad public statement about it,” Iger told a gathering of the Society of Business Editors and Writers at the Disneyland Hotel. “We were appalled by the use of our character to disseminate that kind of message,” he said “I think anytime any group seeks to exploit children in that manner, it’s despicable.”
Still, Iger said it didn’t seem to make any sense for Disney to make any loud public statement at the time. “I just didn’t think it would have any effect,” he said. “I think it should have been obvious how the company felt about the subject.”
Frank says: