Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR)‘s Peter Hart opines that a member of the Saudi royal family, Al-Walid bin Talal, owns a sizable stake in Eurodisney, one of the more financially troubled of the Disney properties, and that’s why Disney is refusing to let its Miramax subsidiary distribute Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11.
“This particular member of the Saudi royal family [Al-Walid bin Talal] has been a big supporter of Disney. I think he’s the fifth richest man in the world according to Forbes last year. US$300 million he has invested in the so far failed Eurodisney project,” Hart said in a Democracy Now! interview.
The FAIR website carries additional information along these lines in its “Activism Update: Eisner’s Fantasyland Excuse for Censorship.”
“It’s not unprecedented for Disney to respond favorably to a political request from its Saudi business partner; when Disney’s EPCOT Center planned to describe Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in an exhibit on Israeli culture, Al-Walid says that he had personally asked Eisner to intervene in the decision. That same week, Disney announced that the pavilion would not refer to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital (BBC, 9/14/99).”
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