Experts Say Walt Disney WASN’T Anti-Semitic, According To New Documentary

It’s been suggested that, according to a panel of experts in a new documentary focusing on the life of Walt Disney, the acclaimed animator wasn’t the anti-Semite many assumed he was.

Disney was labelled an anti-Semite throughout his life and long after his death, but ahead of a 4-hour PBS documentary that will be aired this September, several members of the Disney workforce that were close to the visionary animator have dismissed such claims.

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Richard Sherman (composer on ‘Marty Poppins’ and ‘The Jungle Book’) said to TV critics Sunday that it was “absolutely preposterous to call him anti-Semitic.” Both he and sibling writing partner Robert - both children of Jewish parents themselves - say that Walt treated them as sons.

After researching Walt Disney’s life for the 2006 book ‘Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination’, historian and author Neal Gabler found nothing to substantiate the allegations. “I saw no evidence other than the casual anti-Semitism,” which by today’s standards is obviously unacceptable, but in the early part of the 20th Century was more commonplace in society.

Sarah Colt, the director of the 4-hour television special, says a documentary she made about Henry Ford, a person she describes as a ‘virulent anti-Semite’, paid great attention to his views, yet there’s no evidence to suggest Disney himself shared the same opinions.

While it was commonly agreed upon that working for Walt Disney could be, at times, terrifying due to his insistence for perfection and making snap decisions to sack people he thought were under-performing, a panel (including composer Sherman) agreed that he wasn’t anti-Semitic, even though they disagreed on various other aspects of his life and achievement.

‘Walt Disney’ will air on PBS’ American Experience series on 14 and 15 September, 2015.

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Picture credits: Walt Disney Studios