John Oliver's Feud With Disney
Image Source: Jlo Cinema
One cast member is noticeably absent from the Mufasa: The Lion King. John Oliver took over the role from Rowan Atkinson after he declined to return to play the red-billed hornbill in the 2019 live-action remake of The Lion King. But Disney has recast it again without giving any statement as to why. It’s no great surprise as John Oliver has had a feud with the House of Mouse that has spanned years.
Let’s go back in time to 2019…..
Cocaine Wars
John Oliver was working the press circuit for The Lion King before the movie’s release, and everything seemed fine. But Oliver frequently repeated that he never met the film’s big-ticket star, Beyoncé. Then, in July, the day after the release of the movie, an article was dropped by Rolling Stone Magazine. The interview with Oliver led with the story that Beyoncé didn’t turn up to a cast shoot for The Lion King and had to be photoshopped in. But even worse, in the same article, Oliver made jokes about cocaine use. Disney did not officially comment, but considering this all went down during The Lion King’s opening weekend, it’s hard to believe that words weren’t had.
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Four months later, on John Oliver’s show Last Week Tonight, he used a skit on the US Census to suggest that Mickey Mouse had a really serious cocaine problem. John Oliver could have used any terminology to clap at Disney; he’s a man with a huge vocabulary. It could be a coincidence he chose the drug from the Rolling Stone article….or not. Was this skit retaliation for whatever Disney said to Oliver?
Don’t Say Gay
John Oliver didn’t leave it there. In 2022, Florida passed the Parental Rights in Education Act, aka the 'Don’t Say Gay’ Bill. The act prevented discussion of a number of issues related to sex education and LGBTQ in the classroom. It was accused of denying their existence and looked upon as a step back in civil rights. Disney and CEO Bob Iger refused to take a public stance on the bill and said that they would promote LGBTQ rights through content instead. John Oliver called out the corporation for donating to Ron De Santis and other Republicans who voted for the bill, as well as Disney’s lack of support for the Queer community. Oliver still associated himself closely with the part of Zazu at this time. In an interview with Indie Wire
“Now, should it embarrass them that it took them until this week to realize that they shouldn’t take that money and use it to actively undermine those creators’ interests? Who’s to say? I’ll tell you: I am. I’m Zazu, remember, and while I haven’t been invited back for the prequel yet, after tonight, I’ve got a pretty good feeling about it.”
Mufasa hadn’t gone into production yet, but after this, John Oliver must have realised that his chance to reprise the role had been sunk.
Enough Disney employees eventually spoke out against the Parental Rights in Education Act, forcing the company to change its stance. This led to the court case that signalled the death knell for the bill. However, John Oliver shining the spotlight on Disney’s hypocrisy helped speed matters along.
Steamboat Willie
In 2024, the Steamboat Willie cartoon passed into the public domain, which means that anyone can use the video and imagery. However, Disney is known for having a vast legal team that they are happy to put to use to protect their brand, which includes Mickey. Disney appears to have been trying to get around the public domain issue by registering some images that included Steamboat Willie as trademarks, such as the Walt Disney Animation Studios' opening logo.
“Basically, they may argue that this early Mickey’s image is so closely associated with their company that people automatically assume that any image of him was produced or authorized by them and still take legal action,” Oliver said on his show.
John Oliver decided to put the copyright issue to the test. Initially, at the beginning of April 2024, Oliver just took the Steamboat Willie Mickey and put it in the Last Week Tonight credits. But this went further when a full-size mascot was made and carted around on the Saturday Night TV circuit. A poster for his TV show with the slogan ‘What are they going to do, sue?’ encouraging Disney to take him to court.
Disney has not been foolish enough to rise to Oliver’s taunt, but at the end of April, casting announcements for Mufasa: The Lion King dropped, including Preston Nyman as Zazu. Now, we don’t have any evidence John Oliver knew anything about the Mufasa movie beforehand, and he’s said himself that he didn’t think it was likely he would be cast again. However, this all happened three weeks before the recasting announcement. Judge for yourself.
Since the election, the feud between Disney and John Oliver has settled down, but no doubt it will rear its head again. The TV personality isn’t afraid to hold big corporations to account, but his motives might not always be as pure as they appear on screen. Disney also should have known better, hiring a man like John Oliver and expecting him to be a wallflower in press junkets was naive.
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Source(s): Variety, Indiewire, The Wrap, Yahoo News, Rolling Stone, Wiki
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