On TV yesterday, Saturday Night Live aired an episode of TV Funhouse that poked fun at Disney’s DVD sequel exploits. Modeled after a Disney commercial, kids are invited to take a “Journey to the Disney Vault.” Inside, the kids discover things that Disney has “kept secret.” One of the children picks up a video:
Boy: “I’ve never heard of this one… Song of the South?”
Mickey Mouse: “Ohh, nobody wants to see that one anymore!”
Girl: “How bad could it be?”
Mickey Mouse: “It’s the very original version that he [Disney] only played at parties.”
Uncle Remus: “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, Zip-A-Dee-Ay… negroes are inferior in every way; whites are much cleaner, that’s what I say; Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, Zip-A-Dee-Ay.”
Interestingly, they use actual footage from Song of the South. A clip of the entire TV Funhouse segment is available for viewing here. [Some content may be considered offensive.] Thanks to Nate for the initial news report and to Hans Geyer for posting the video clip to the forum.
Disney’s portrayal of Uncle Remus has been parodied before in Saturday Night Live’s “Uncle Jemimah’s Pure Mash Liquor” commercial, in which Uncle Jemimah walks among animated characters and music similar to Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah is played in the background.