The man behind the creation of one of the most beloved characters in film history, Mickey Mouse, has been surrounded by myth and controversy well beyond his death, and there are many Walt Disney facts that remain behind a question mark - including the long-standing theory that the entrepreneur was secretly anti-Semitic.
Now, a new documentary called "American Experience" comes full of new Walt Disney facts, as the mysteries behind the famous entrepreneur and cartoonist unravel further almost 50 years after his death, and one of the biggest controversies surrounding him, over supposedly being anti-Semitic, has finally been cleared - and it turns out it's an unfair accusation.
According to Variety, Walt Disney facts include how he ran the studio with his name with an iron hand and how he was equally feared and respected by the people working at Disney, even having a cult created around his name around the time.
However, CTV News reports that among Walt Disney facts, anti-Semitism wasn't one of them, and Richard Sherman (who composed some of the biggest Disney hits at the time Walt was alive, including "Mary Poppins") has claimed that he, the son of Jewish immigrants, was always treated like a son by Mr. Disney, along with his equally iconic writing partner and brother Robert - he called the rumors about his anti-Semitism "preposterous."
Neal Gabler, a historian and social critic who researched Walt Disney facts exhaustively for his book "Walt Disney: The Triumph of American Generation," has said he found absolutely no evidence of these claims, explaining that while Disney was a complex figure with many sins (often called a "dictator" within the boundaries of his own studio), ethnic profiling (and particularly against Jews) was not one of them.
According to The Daily Mail, true Walt Disney facts will be included in the upcoming documentary on the iconic American, set for a PBS release on September 14 and 15.
