So a live look now.
Disney World this morning.
You can see Epcot in the distance
there just days
after Magic Kingdom's
Splash Mountain ran dry after 31
Riders took their final splashdown
before it closed for good on Sunday
with some waiting nearly 4 hours
at the height of the day,
Disney announcing in 2020
that it was planning
to reimagine the ride
after mounting
complaint for its connection
to the 1946
film song of the South
which has been criticized
for racial stereotypes
and its nostalgic
view of the post-Civil War South
The ride
will be redesigned with Disney's
and the Frog in Mind,
a movie
featuring Disney's first black
princess, Tiana.
Still a 2020 change.org petition
to save Splash
Mountain is still getting signat
with 99,000 people
supporting the movement so far.
The petition says that
people don't understand
one of the characters
in Song of the South,
who many have deemed to be a ste
of a spiritual black man and cla
there is a misunderstanding
of his relationship
with his employers
on a Georgia plantation
which takes place after the Civi
It goes on to say Modifying
Splash Mountain will not change
and will only encourage
the easily offended to continue
desperate attempts
at finding offensive
and additional attractions.
Back with us, CNN
anchor and correspondent
and host of CNN podcast,
The Assignment with Audie Cornis
Audie Cornish.
Okay. That was a lot.
I mean, it's a lot in general.
Yeah.
Are you?
Well, there's a lot there.
Yeah. The culture wars are exhau
They are.
It's a ride
I mean, look,
maybe there's
going to be this big movement
that's just as for Splash Mounta
But the truth is,
Disney is in this,
you know,
got caught up in the culture war
the last couple of years.
And right
as the company is making sure
to refocus on parks,
which is the big revenue generat
you have this kind of issue comi
up, putting them back in the new
which is not ideal.
I hesitate to engage on the whol
song of the South
part of it
because I feel like
it's practically an American pas
to kind of justify
the legacy
and history of things
related to the Civil War.
I mean, it's
that is actually part of the his
and aftermath of the war itself.
Is this romanticization
of anything connected to it?
You guys are probably more
into Disney World than I am.
I mean, is this like that?
Okay. Tell me,
is this the most exciting splash
you can do there?
I don't know.
I've been like one
by one last year with the kids,
but we're going again soon.
I'm I'm interested in how you th
Big picture.
Like you talk about Disney
focusing on the parks
and being really lucrative.
They've got a new guy in charge
The old guys back, he's not old.
But, you know,
the former CEO, Bob Iger is back
And I think it's
going to be really interesting
to see how he deals
with these culture wars with Ron
because he was really outspoken
You know,
the sort of broader issue
when Florida went after
Disney about a year ago,
then when Bob Chapek was
do you think new management
changes things?
I mean, it'll be interesting
to see how they try and walk the
Disney has done
so much in the last few decades
to really
modernize its programing and the
it's telling children
the way it presents families
and ideas about families.
That's very disruptive
to people who see it
fundamentally as a legacy brand
and as something that is suppose
kind of look the same forever,
you know what I mean?
Like Mickey Mouse always
looks the same, basically.
And I think that you're
seeing this pushback now
has been very jarring for them.
And it will be interesting to se
how this can keep us coming out
and do important things
like one of our favorite movies
in our household
is Disney's
more recent Princess and the Fro
And it is important for our chil
to see that diversity
in these princesses.
Come on.
Yeah.
And, you know, I think, again,
that's the key.
I think yeah, that's the key.
Is moving forward and doing char
that are more diverse.
So, listen, I have a I think I h
So you're saying
would they be fighting about it
if the Splash Mountain
wasn't moving to a film
that was centered?
So this is what I feel
very similarly
as I felt about Gone With the Wi
So we were talking about the San
in this whole idea.
This is why you should be teachi
these things, right, in schools.
I think that this can be
a teachable moment.
I hate that cliche,
but I think you can keep Splash
and whatever it was based on
and then teach kids about it.
Look, No.
One, you don't have to go to Spl
Mountain,
but kids have to go to a school.
I would prefer that
my kids not go to school.
Named Robert de La.
I would prefer
the name to come off of it.
But for a ride that is voluntary
that you're going to go there fo
and it has a history,
you can leave it
and teach
kids there and say, look,
this ride was created around thi
which was a stereotype of black,
you know, whatever.
But it's like I don't
I don't go to corporate media
for teachable moments. Unfortuna
I mean, that's a
go to not how this works.
No one is going to be at Splash
thinking about like eyes on the
or something like it's a dopey r
And I think sometimes we let peo
move the goalposts
on culture awards discussions
by drawing people
into this kind of battle over th
very silly thing.
You know, it's really gets
you tied up into things
that do not matter.
You know,
it is more significant
for Governor Ron DeSantis
to be tearing into the classroom
what should
and shouldn't be on the curricul
It's far less so about like what
Splash Mountain is painted.
You know,
I think it's a distraction
from real political issues.
Oh, I'm just sad for me,
it's just a solution.
But if you want to keep Splash M
the way it is, again, it is volu
It is a long list of things
people want to keep.
The way it is
gets longer and longer right.
I mean, that that is part of
this issue, right?
Like time marches on.
There's plenty of things
that we don't do anymore,
including vaudeville.
But this idea now
that there are like
these certain traditions
that only certain people
get to pick and choose
which ones we should keep.
It's pervasive and it's exhausti
But don't you think
I mean, it is
it depends on what it is like.
It should be case by case, don't
you think?
It's not about who isn't, who de
I think we decide.
Well, it sounds like people
with petitions to say, yeah, exa
what is with me.
Why was it
the 21,000 signatures to change
But she said the work is anythin
they can,
someone I'm
not going to be voting
and voting and voting.
So it doesn't really mean
what has changed that org mean.
No change in. Org is important.
I'm just saying that
I think sometimes
when we get riled up in these de
we have to say to ourselves,
what is this really about?
Who's really behind it?
And how much of a difference
does it make to our material liv
So do you think Spider-Man makes
that much?
I'm saying people splash away.
It's fine.
And if you need to put on headph
and play a song of this out
to enjoy that ride
to get your life, you know?
But I don't really think
that is a whole you want to die
I do watch some of the cartoons
and I'm like, it's it's crazy.
I watch very crazy.
That's a whole other debate.
I mean,
I won't be playing Dumbo in my h
but I mean, Disney knows that, r
That's why
they have made the changes they
Thank you. Thank you, Audie.
Someone messaged me
after your last segment
with us in the 6 a.m.
hour and said how great it was.
And I said she's a gift to our n
Oh, thank you. Thank you, thank
They check in the mail.
You can listen
is a gift to your ears, too.
You can listen to her podcast as
with Audie Cornish.
It's available wherever you get