In the wake of the disastrous, deadly end of Donald Trump’s presidency, Republicans sprang into action: They put all their muscle into making fake controversies out of children’s entertainment. Dr. Seuss, Mr. Potato Head, Pepé Le Pew, the Muppets — conservatives claimed they were all being “canceled.” They weren’t. But it made for good fake outrage to deflect from other real controversies, such as Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and other GOP lawmakers inspiring Trump loyalists to storm the Capitol.
On Monday, that brief, strange period made a comeback. Fox News spent a good chunk of the day trying to gin up controversy over Snow White. Progressives, they claimed, had come for the Disney version of the Grimm fairy tale. Specifically they were coming for a newly revamped version of “Snow White’s Scary Adventures,” the ride version of the company’s maiden animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, claiming that Prince Charming’s life-reaffirming kiss of the sleeping heroine is a violation of her consent. Ted Cruz tweeted about it. Tomi Lahren came to Snow White’s defense. Liberals, they said, had gone too far.
The problem? It was based on almost nothing at all.
As per The Daily Beast, the entire controversy was based on a single paragraph in a single travel magazine. In a mostly positive review of Disneyland’s reopened park published in SFGate, the San Francisco Chronicle’s online travel publication, the journalist briefly touched on the new version of the classic ride, which features a more organic story but also some old-timey politics.
“Haven’t we already agreed that consent in early Disney movies is a major issue?” the writer wrote. “That teaching kids that kissing, when it hasn’t been established if both parties are willing to engage, is not OK?”
No one else had picked this up. But Fox News did. And soon the conservative calvary had rushed in, defending the ride from a furor that was only happening on one side. And when social media found out, they pointed out the fake outrage.
Just want to point out that this Fox News rage-a-thon about the “woke” mob coming to “cancel” Snow White all centers around one paragraph in a single travel piece written last week in a local San Francisco paper.https://t.co/A0RzGJJrUy
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) May 3, 2021
What are they getting mad about today? Here’s a “straight news” segment about the purported cancelation of Snow White at Disneyland that is built around a single op-ed that criticized the ride. https://t.co/q39MRZX8Wa pic.twitter.com/j0xg0sp5dq
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) May 3, 2021
They are insane… A single digital travel article lamenting an element of Disneyland’s revamped Snow White ride has sent Fox News into a frenzy saying we are trying to cancel Snow White….. no one article does not speak for us all my god they are pathetic pic.twitter.com/AQyqeG9vQ1
— Stephanie Mandujano (@MagicalSteph90) May 3, 2021
“At the end of the day, they’re just searching for things to be offended by!”
Tomi Lahren, at the end of a Fox News segment in which she complained about a couple of San Francisco writers expressing mild criticism about Disneyland’s Snow White ride. pic.twitter.com/fRfMWQMAHP
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) May 3, 2021
The real question is, who is “cancelling” Snow White? I’ve honestly seen no one complain or getting angry over this. How bad is media business that they’re resorting to invent pointless controversies for the sake of clicks?https://t.co/QLX9RcpFIn
— Mat Brunet (AniMat) (@AniMat505) May 3, 2021
But by the end of the day, Fox News had handed the reins to Tucker Carlson. And the network’s focus moved away from fake Snow White news to telling people not to get a vaccine that could save millions.
And @TuckerCarlson is why America will never achieve herd immunity.
— Molly Jong-Fast
(@MollyJongFast) May 4, 2021
And thus the circle of life over at Fox News continued.
(Via The Daily Beast)