Walt Disney WAS a racist and a misogynist just as Meryl Streep claims, admits his grandniece

Abigail Disney, the grandniece of Walt Disney, said Meryl Streep's comments about her relative were right

Streep made a speech at the National Board of Review dinner last week in which she called Disney a 'gender bigot' and that he had ‘formed and supported an anti-Semitic industry lobby'

She was there to honor actress Emma Thompson for her portrayal of Mary Poppins’ creator, PL Travers in Disney film, Saving Mr Banks

Abigail Disney took to Facebook to address the comments saying that while her great-uncle was a visionary, he was also anti-semitic, racist and misogynistic

The great-niece of Walt Disney has come out in support of Meryl Streep after the actress's controversial remarks calling the icon 'anti-semitic' and a 'gender bigot.'

Abigail Disney, 54, an activist and filmmaker, took to Facebook to address Streep's indictment of Walt Disney during her National Board of Review presentation on January 7.

Ultimately, wrote Disney, although she has 'mixed feelings' about Walt Disney, she 'loved' Streep's comments about her illustrious relative.

Disney descendant: Abigail Disney says her great-uncle was, as Meryl Streep says, sexist, racist and anti-semitic

Scathing remarks: Actress Meryl Streep called Walt Disney a 'gender bigot' and 'anti-Semitic' in her speech on Tuesday. But she also praised her friend and fellow actress, Emma Thompson, as a 'beautiful artist'



Streep attended the National Board of Review dinner to pay homage to fellow actress Emma Thompson for her portrayal of Mary Poppins' creator P.L. Travers in the Disney film Saving Mr Banks.

But in between her praise of Thompson, she managed to include a few scathing comments about Walt Disney, whom she called a ‘hideous anti-Semite’ who ‘formed and supported an anti-Semitic industry lobby. And he was certainly, on the evidence of his company’s policies, a gender bigot’.

Streep read a letter that his company wrote in 1938 to an aspiring female animator. It included the line, ‘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.’

‘Some of his associates reported that Walt Disney didn’t really like women,’ Streep said, quoting esteemed animator Ward Kimball on his old boss: ‘He didn’t trust women or cats.’

Legacy: His grandniece says that Walt Disney (pictured in 1951) was a visionary who has made billions of people happy with his work Last Friday, Abigail Disney wrote about Streep's speech on her Facebook page. 'I hadn't heard a word about this Meryl Streep/Walt Disney flap till this morning. Funny how no one mentioned it to me.... Like I was living in some kind of information bubble and nobody wanted to hurt my feelings or something. But if anyone is going to have mixed feelings about a cultural icon, wouldn't it be a member of the family??? More than anyone else???' she wrote, reports The Hollywood Reporter. 'And if you are going to have mixed feelings about a family member (and we all do) take it from me, you really need to be as honest as possible about those feelings, or else you are going to lead yourself into many a blind alley in life!!' She went on to agree with Streep's accusations of racism and sexism. 'Anti-Semite? Check. Misogynist? OF COURSE!! Racist? C'mon he made a film (Jungle Book) about how you should stay 'with your own kind' at the height of the fight over segregation! As if the 'King of the Jungle' number wasn't proof enough!! How much more information do you need?' WAS WALT DISNEY A RACIST, SEXIST ANTI-SEMITE?

Meryl Streep branded Disney a misogynist in her speech and rumors have long swirled about his anti-Semitic leanings and the racial stereotypes in his early films. So what are the charges laid against Disney - and are they true?



The charge: Disney was racist



Walt Disney's films from the 1930s and '40s - particularly 'Song of the South' - are full of offensive racial stereotypes. In one, Mickey Mouse wears black-face, and in 'Fantasia' Sunflower, a half-donkey, half-black centaurette carries around a watermelon.



However, biographer Neal Gabler in his 2009 book 'Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination' concludes, 'Walt Disney was no racist. He never, either publicly or privately, made disparaging remarks about blacks or asserted white superiority. Like most white Americans of his generation, however, he was racially insensitive.'



The charge: Disney was anti-Semitic



In 1938, a month after the infamous anti-Jewish pogrom Kristallnacht, Disney welcomed German filmmaker and Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl to his Hollywood studios. He was also associated with the very anti-Semitic Motion Picture Alliance.



Gabler says Disney was personally not anti-Jewish. 'There is some dispute whether the same spirit of tolerance extended to the studio, but of the Jews who worked there, it was hard to find any who thought Walt was an anti-Semite,' he writes. Jewish author Douglas Brode points out in his book 'Multiculturalism and the Mouse: Race and Sex in Disney Entertainment' that Disney was the first filmmaker to cast a Jewish Santa Claus (Ed Wynn in 'Babes in Toyland') and other Disney films feature Jewish actors in a wide range of roles.

The charge: Disney was sexist



As Streep correctly pointed out, women were not permitted to do creative work at Walt Disney. And, according to Ward Kimball at least, Disney did not trust women.

However, Disney was a product of his time. According to the Hollywood Reporter, women were confined to inking and painting in animation during the 1930s at all the major studios.

Retta Scott became Disney’s first female animator on 1942’s 'Bambi,' and in the ’40s and ’50s, Mary Blair was art supervisor and color stylist for 'Saludos Amigos,' 'The Three Caballeros,' 'Cinderella,' 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Peter Pan. '



No angel: Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson as P.L. Travers in the film Saving Mr Banks

Streep softened the blow during her speech by adding that ‘there is a piece of received wisdom that says that the most creative people are often odd, or irritating, eccentric, damaged, difficult. That along with enormous creativity come certain deficits in humanity or decency.

‘We are familiar with this trope in our business: Mozart, Van Gogh, Tarantino, Eminem,’ Streep added.

Abigail Disney agreed with those sentiments too: 'But damn, he was hella good at making films and his work has made billions of people happy. There's no denying it. So there ya go. Mixed feelings up the wazoo.'

Documentary-maker: Producer Abigail Disney has worked on films such as The Queen of Versailles and The Invisible War

Ten hours later the documentary producer, who has worked on such films as the Queen of Versailles, which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2012, posted on Meryl Streep's comments about her great-uncle again.

'I know he was a man of his times and I can forgive him, but Saving Mr Banks was a brazen attempt by the company to make a saint out of the man. A devil he was not. Nor an angel... So I say Brava Meryl.'