In this day and age when political correctness has become a prominent part of life, even Disney toes the line. One of their past movies that they treat as an old shame is “Song of the South,†which has never been released wholly for home media.
A more recent change is “Dumbo,†which will remove the crows (and their leader Jim Crow) that befriend the elephant in the film, at least on its Disney+ streaming version. They already don’t exist in the live-action remake by Tim Burton, premiered this year.
Now there’s another upcoming production that will be given the PC treatment. Also appearing on Disney+, it’s the live-action adaptation of “Lady and the Tramp.†The alteration will be the removal of “The Siamese Cat Song,†a ditty that’s been criticized in more recent times as an offensive Asian stereotype.
This was revealed following the casting of Janelle Monae, who will voice and sing for the dog character Peg. Peg’s original animation voice actor was Peggy Lee, who also voiced and sang for the antagonistic Siamese cat twins. Monae will not only cover the song “He’s a Tramp†by Lee as Peg, she will write a different musical track to replace the “Siamese Cat Song.â€
Such policing of content and themes from older films (and their remakes) by Disney is relatively new. They certainly didn’t think “Siamese Cat Song†as too offensive back in 2004. That was when it showed on “Disneymania 2†album, covered by Hillary and Haylie Duff.
The “Lady and the Tramp†remake is expected to be a possible launch title for the Disney+ streaming service on November 12. It will star Tessa Thompson as pet-dog Lady and Justin Theroux as stray-dog Tramp, along with Sam Elliot, Ashley Jensen and Benedict Wong.