Spiked Reports: America’s post-Floyd ‘racial reckoning’ has found the spectre of white supremacy lurking in many unlikely places. In recent years, everything from mathematics to Abraham Lincoln, the president who abolished slavery, has been declared ‘problematic’ by activists.

That crusade has now reached a joyless new low. On Sunday, the Splash Mountain log flume, a much-loved attraction at Walt Disney World in Florida, welcomed riders for the final time. On the ride, guests are serenaded by animal animatronics, before plunging down a 50-feet drop and splashing into water. The ride’s theme and soundtrack draw on elements from Disney’s 1946 film, Song of the South. For activists, this is where the problem lies.

According to Disney CEO Bob Iger, Song of the South – and anything associated with it, like the Splash Mountain ride – is ‘just not appropriate in today’s world’. Set at some point during the Reconstruction Era after the US Civil War, Song of the South follows seven-year-old Johnny as he visits his grandmother’s plantation in Georgia. While there, Johnny befriends old Uncle Remus, a plantation worker. He tells Johnny tales about the adventures of his cartoon animal friends. From these stories, Johnny learns how to cope with his new life on the plantation. The film has long been criticised for dealing in racial stereotypes and, as a result, has never been released on home video in the US, or on Disney+.



In truth, Splash Mountain’s association with the film is fairly loose. In 2020, a petition calling for the ride to be rethemed had to concede that the ride’s storyline ‘is not an exact version of the movie’s plot’.