Meryl Streep and Walt Disney Feud: Late Animator's Friends Fight Back
Meryl Streep is at war with an unlikely person: the late Walt Disney. On Sunday, the actress took a detour from her speech praising Emma Thompson's performance in Walt Disney Studios' Saving Mr. Banks to speak about Disney's alleged sexist and anti-Semitic views.
Variety reports that Streep spoke at The National Board of Review Dinner where she presented Thomson an award for playing P.L. Travers, the creator of Mary Poppins. Amidst the praise and compliments to her friend were attacks on Disney.
"Some of his associates reported that Walt Disney didn't really like women," Streep said, quoting Ward Kimball, a famous animator who worked with Disney. "He didn't trust women or cats."
Streep continued to read a letter written in 1938 to a woman who dreamed of being an animator, adding evidence that Disney was, in Streep's own words, a "gender bigot."
"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," the letter said.
The 64-year-old actress also attacked Disney's alleged history of anti-Semitism. According to Streep, Disney "supported an anti-Semitic industry lobbying group."
Despite a supposedly checkered past, Disney still has plenty of friends on his side. On Wednesday night, the Walt Disney Family Museum supported the historical animator.
"Hey @officialMStreep! Want the real truth about Walt Disney? Visit the museum and we'll give you a tour. Or, you know... Google it. :)," Walt Disney Museum said via Twitter.
The Twitter account also tweeted a blog post written by Floyd Norman, an animator who worked with Disney Studios before Disney's death on classics films like Sleeping Beauty (1959), The Sword in the Stone (1963) and The Jungle Book (1967).
"The few that are blessed with fame and success should at least be grateful. And, they might be wise to guard unscripted remarks lest they appear foolish," the post, titled "Sophie's Poor Choice," said. "It would appear a number of people in Hollywood and elsewhere know a good deal about a studio that never employed them. They also seem to be quite knowledgeable about a man they never met. This is to be expected, of course. When it comes to history it appears everybody's an expert."