Disney parks price out the middle class

[azurnoir]

30. Really from the link you provided

Walt was accused of keeping company with rabidly antisemitic people. The German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl is the prime example. Her documentaries (primarily Nazi propaganda films) in the mid-30s had helped to glorify the Nazis. Despite the obvious nature of her work and associations. Mr. Disney did have a face to face meeting with her prior to WWII. How much time did he spend with her? How close was Walt to Riefenstahl? Long after his death she was quoted as follows-

“after Kristallnacht [1938], she approached every studio in Hollywood looking for work. No studio head would even screen her movies except Walt Disney. He told her he admired her work but if it became known that he was considering hiring her, it would damage his reputation.”

There were other damning accusations about Walt Disney. He was accused by senior animator Art Babbitt of a relationship with Fritz Kuhn leader of the German American Bund. Babbitt was at Disney studios from 1933-1951. Mr. Babbitt notably created one of Disney’s most enduring characters Goofy. He claimed that Disney had outright sympathy for Kuhn. Babbitt made other accusations about Disney and Disney’s lawyer. He claimed that they attended several German American Bund meetings. Mr Babbitt specifically stated that he had seen Walt and his attorney attend a meeting.

“In the immediate years before we entered the War there was a small, but fiercely loyal, I suppose legal, following of the Nazi party . . . There were open meetings, anybody could attend and I wanted to see what was going on myself. On more than one occasion I observed Walt Disney and [Disney’s lawyer] Gunther Lessing there, along with a lot of prominent Nazi-afflicted Hollywood personalities. Disney was going to meetings all the time.”

Walt also had a well documented association with a known anti-Semitic group the MPAPI. Mr. Disney was a member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals until the 1950’s. The MPAPAI was an anti-communist, anti-fascist, and Anti-Semitic organization.