At the Walt Disney Company’s 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders held on March 11, 2020, Disney shareholder Matthew Hansen asked the first question during the Q&A session:
Good morning, Bob and Bob. My name is Matthew Hansen, I’m a shareholder from Salt Lake City. At last year’s meeting, you, Mr. Iger, mentioned that Disney+ would eventually have “the entire Walt Disney Studios library.” Currently there are a lot of absences from the catalog, ranging from various short films to “Victory Through Air Power” to “Follow Me, Boys!” and many more. What is the plan or timeline for the full catalog to be added to Disney+? Also, are there plans to add content such as Michael Eisner’s Disney’s Sunday Movie Intros? And along with that, many have wondered after your comments if, when you said “entire library”, does that include “Song of the South,” and if not, why can’t it be included with a similar disclaimer about containing outdated cultural depictions that currently accompanies many other titles on Disney+? ….”
Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger replied:
…. I think when I said “the whole library,” one of the things that we realized was a lot of what was made in the past is not of the quality just in terms of the quality of the film initially, when it’s digitized, and we’re working through some of that. We also had to prioritize because there’s so much that had to be digitized so we couldn’t get everything on. So I think in the end when I said the entire library it turns out not everything will be available because of some of those issues. I’ve felt, as long as I’ve been CEO that Song of the South was, even with a disclaimer, was just not appropriate in today’s world. That’s actually true with some of the other things that we’ve made as well. It’s just hard to, given the depictions in some of those films, to bring them out today without, in some form or another, offending people. So we’ve decided not to do that.
The full audio of the shareholder meeting can be listened to here. The Q&A session begins around the 39:15 mark.
Mr. Hansen has been dutifully asking about Disney’s plans for Song of the South at many of Disney’s shareholder meetings over the years (you can read about nearly all of them in our News Archive), and Bob Iger’s responses have varied.
Iger stepped down as CEO in February 2020, but is still serving as Executive Chairman; it is unknown at this time if Iger’s successor, Bob Chapek, feels the same way about this film.
Until then, there are several steps you can take:
- Sign the Petition to Release Song of the South on Disney+.
- Spread the word! Like Song of the South on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
- Nominate Song of the South to be added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. The National Film Registry was established to preserve and safeguard U.S. films that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Each year they select 25 films. It’s important to note that nominations do not carry over from year to year, so if you nominated Song of the South previously, you should re-nominate each year (and you are encouraged to do so).
- If you subscribe to Disney+, you can suggest a title be added to Disney+ by going to the Help section, clicking on “Give Feedback” and selecting “Request a film or show” from the drop-down menu.
