History has been kind to Walt Disney. He brought joy to billions. He brought dreams to life. And now, Meryl Streep has set out to clear the record about one of the worst-kept secrets in Hollywood: Disney could be kind of a jerk, if “jerk” is the right word for someone who “formed and supported an anti-Semitic industry lobbying group.” That’s according to Streep (and more or less backed up by history), who aired some of this laundry while presenting an award to Emma Thompson, who just starred in Saving Mr. Banks, a movie about Disney himself.
Streep went on to quote a letter Disney sent to Mary Ford, an aspiring cartoonist who wanted to work for him. He told her that “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. For this reason, girls are not considered for the training school.” Disney itself responded over Twitter, pointing to a blog post that said Mr. Disney “was not a perfect man nor did we expect him to be. Like most of us, he continued to grow as he moved through life and in time he recognized women could compete alongside men. He knew that talent had no color or ethnicity and he judged people by their ability to do their job and do it well.”
That’s all well and good, but why is nobody taking Mr. Disney to task for turning down the opportunity to make Iron Man suits? …
