Lilly Singh Mocks Disney Plus ‘Outdated Cultural Depictions’ Warnings for Racist Movies
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Lilly Singh lampooned Disney Plus’ disclaimer that certain older movies include “outdated cultural depictions” on her NBC show.
The YouTube and late-night TV comedian took issue with Disney’s euphemistic phrasing — pointing out that the warning is really about the “racist” tropes in decades-old movies that were made for kids.
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Disney Plus includes “a bunch of classic cartoons that come from a time before anyone cared about — how do I put this lightly? — being racist,” Singh said in a segment on “A Little Late with Lilly Singh” Thursday night. She cited the crows in “Dumbo” and the jazz-club cats in “The Aristocats.”
Singh, who is Indian-Canadian, added sarcastically, “‘Outdated’: because we all know racism is dead in 2019, right? I mean, just check my YouTube comments.”
Singh offered a tongue-in-cheek list of other warnings Disney Plus should add to its catalog: “Sleeping Beauty” (“Warning: I can’t believe I have to tell you this, but kissing a passed-out woman is illegal and terrible”); “The Lion King” (“Warning: This movie depicts gay uncles as backstabbing murderers”); “The Princess and the Frog” (“Warning: Do not adjust color on screen. Princess is actually black”); and “Frozen” (“Warning: Contains songs that will completely ruin parents’ lives”).
Singh, a longtime YouTuber who originally called her channel “||SuperWoman||,” replaced Carson Daly in the later-night slot (after “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”) with the fall 2019 season. “A Little Late with Lilly Singh” airs Monday-Thursday at 1:30 am ET on NBC.
Disney Plus, which launched in the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands on Nov. 12 — to crushing demand — includes the “outdated cultural depictions” warning on certain older films, including the original “Dumbo,” “The Aristocats,” “Lady and the Tramp” and “Jungle Book.”
“This program is presented as originally created,” the message says. “It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”
Meanwhile, the 1946 Disney musical film “Song of the South” is not available on Disney Plus — and it hasn’t been available in any form for more than three decades, because of its racist depictions of African-Americans.
Watch Singh’s segment about the Disney Plus warnings below (or at this link):
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