Earlier this week, when I wrote about Angel Studios’ new animated musical, “DAVID,” I wrote about my love for Disney’s classic films. One movie that made an impression on me as a kid hasn’t seen the light of day for 40 years: the Oscar-winning classic, Song of the South.
This wasn’t just any movie; it was an innovative project that combined live action and animation in ingenious ways. Walt Disney personally supervised much of the production, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Song of the South with two Oscars: Best Original Song for “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” and an honorary award for star James Baskett, which made him the first black man to win an Academy Award for acting. (Co-star Hattie McDaniel was the first black actress to win an Oscar for 1939’s Gone With the Wind.)
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Yet Song of the South, with main characters who are freed slaves, fell afoul of political correctness, and audiences haven’t been able to see it since 1986, unless they can get their hands on a bootleg copy. But Walt Disney took extra care to make sure that Song of the South wasn’t racist, as I wrote way back in 2013:
In an era of Southern segregation and the already churning waters of race relations, Disney took pains to craft the film as carefully as he could. When a first draft by Louisiana writer Dalton Reymond proved so racist as to be beyond the pale, Walt turned to author Maurice Rapf, a communist-leaning (gasp!) Yankee (double gasp!) — who would later find himself blacklisted — to fix the script, and other writers helped whip an acceptable screenplay into shape. The filmmakers chose to set the film after the Civil War, though they were not always clear about the setting. For example, the screenplay presents a greater level of interaction between blacks and whites than during the antebellum era, and Uncle Remus threatens to leave the farmstead of his own accord, whereas he would have had to escape had he still been a slave.
Disney Legend Floyd “Mr. Fun” Norman showed the movie to an audience at a black church in the ‘80s. The reaction wasn’t what you might expect.
“The screening of the Disney film proved insightful,” Norman wrote in the foreword to Jim Korkis’ book Who’s Afraid of the Song of the South? And Other Forbidden Disney Stories. “The completely African-American audience absolutely loved the movie and even requested a second screening.”
“Yet even today the film continues to be mired in controversy, and that’s a shame,” Norman added. “I often remind people that the Disney movie is not a documentary on the American South.”
Legendary Imagineer Tony Baxter is another voice calling for Song of the South to make its way into streaming and physical media. “I will stand by this today; there is not a thing in the ride that was detrimental to anybody,” Baxter said in a 2023 interview. “Whatever the controversy is that’s come up has more to do with what the film is. I think we’re way overboard on that kind of sensitivity.”
Nowadays, it appears that one name is at the forefront of keeping Song of the South out of the hands of viewers: Disney CEO Bob Iger. Iger is bound and determined to make sure that this underrated classic never sees the light of day again.
“Bob Iger’s refusal to release the 1946 film—even with historical context—is a calculated move in brand management,” Disney Tips reports. “During a shareholders’ meeting a few years back, Iger stated that the film was ‘not appropriate in today’s world.’ By 2026, his stance has only strengthened. As Disney navigates a landscape focused on inclusion and modern sensibilities, the CEO views Song of the South as a radioactive asset.”
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Iger has even taken away the only way people could experience the animated characters from Song of the South. He greenlit replacing the iconic water flume attraction, Splash Mountain, with a lackluster ride based on the otherwise wonderful 2009 animated feature, The Princess and the Frog.
“The push to keep the film buried is also a physical reality in the theme parks,” reports Disney Tips. “For decades, the characters of Song of the South lived on through Splash Mountain. However, in 2023 and 2024, Disney completed the high-profile closure of the ride, replacing it with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.”
Side note: I rode Tiana’s Bayou Adventure for the first time on a trip to Walt Disney World back in December. It was boring and uninspiring. The plot of the ride was flimsy, the animatronics were disappointing, and there were long stretches with nothing to see, which was even less fun in the dark when we rode it.
The X account Splash Mountain Historical Society recently noted that Iger has blocked Song of the South from a rerelease for decades:
According to Leonard Maltin, “Song of the South” was meant to rerelease between 2005-2007 with the Walt Disney Treasures DVD set, but Bob Iger himself shut it down. Apparently those in the home video department were “dying” to get it out, knowing it would make huge profit. pic.twitter.com/2GVrGKFnOX
— Splash Mountain Historical Society (@SplashMHS) January 22, 2026
That X thread includes a clip of an interview with the film historian and critic Leonard Maltin (presumably by his daughter, Jessie), in which he discusses Iger and Disney scuttling releases:
Interviewer: Was Song of the South ever discussed for the Disney Treasures?
Maltin: It was discussed, but it was dismissed.
Interviewer: Yeah, of course it was.
Maltin: I mean, the home video people were dying to put it out. They knew they'd sell a lot of copies, but it went right to the top, and it was vetoed. And just as Bob Iger has continued to say that he thinks it's unlikely it will ever see the light of day.
It’s heartbreaking that such a charming and iconic classic isn’t available to anyone who isn’t willing or intrepid enough to find a bootleg copy. More people should see Song of the South, and it’s criminal that it’s out of the hands of so many fans.
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