“Mickey Mouse Has to Become a Nazi,” says Michael Knowles
Right-wing zealot Michael Knowles suggests conservatives turn the original Mickey Mouse into a Nazi to make the Disney brand toxic.
Michael Knowles, a right-wing tool, wants to turn the original Mickey Mouse into a Nazi as a way to punish Disney for opposing Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Knowles, who appears on The Daily Wire, made the comments during a recent episode of The Michael Knowles Show, asserting that opponents of LGBTQ rights should make the original Mickey Mouse into a Nazi to make the Disney brand so toxic and so reviled that the general public will no longer want to associate with the company or any of its subsidiaries.
Knowles appears to have been inspired by the idea that, after entering the public domain on January 1, 2024, the original Mickey Mouse design from the 1928 movie Steamboat Willie is now free for appropriation. Creators no longer risk legal action if they use or portray the character in a different light, such as a recently announced slasher film incorporating the character as a murderer.
“Mickey Mouse has to become a Nazi,” Knowles said. “He has to. Because Disney is a very, very evil corporation that wants to trans your kids and fill their heads with all sorts of crazy ideas, and Disney’s gotta go.”
“You heard all the Disney executives talking about their not-so-secret LGBTLMNOP agenda,” he said, referring to leaked 2022 videos from a Disney webinar featuring the company’s executives talking about their dedication to producing and uplifting LGBTQ-related content. Right-wingers have seized on the webinar as proof of Disney promoting a pro-LGBTQ “agenda.”
“You’ve seen what Disney has done in recent years, so much so that the governor of Florida had to take political action against them to stop Disney from trying to interfere in the democratic process in Florida to stop the libs from transing your kids. OK?” Knowles said, putting his own spin on the ongoing battle between Gov. Ron DeSantis and The Walt Disney Company.
Disney, under former CEO Bob Chapek, initially remained silent about the impact of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, also known as the “Parental Rights in Education Act,” which bars all LGBTQ content from K-12 classrooms and requires parents be notified if their children begin identifying as LGBTQ or as a gender that does not match their assigned sex at birth.
It was only after backlash from Disney employees that the company apologized for not speaking out on the law’s unintended consequences, which include the censoring of students who speak out on LGBTQ rights, the firing of teachers who acknowledge their LGBTQ identity, and the banning of classic literary works for allegedly “age-inappropriate” content.
Once Disney apologized to its employees, especially those who identify as LGBTQ, and announced its opposition to the law, DeSantis and his fellow Republicans went about seeking to punish Disney by attempting to strip away its special tax status and installing a board of right-wing appointees, including the now scandal-riddled right-wing zealot Bridget Ziegler, to oversee the tax district containing most of Disney’s theme park properties.
The company has since sued the state, arguing that it is being retaliated against for exercising its free speech rights and expressing an opinion contrary to that preferred by all Florida Republican lawmakers.
According to Knowles, it’s all Disney’s fault that Florida was “forced” to take action against the company, in the name of “protecting” children from being exposed to LGBTQ content and identities.
“Disney is really, really bad,” he ranted. “So one of the best things that we can do right now is make the Disney characters toxic… The Disney character is now in the public domain, and what this means is we need to turn Mickey into a Nazi.”
While Knowles clarified that he does not like Nazis, whom he calls “bad,” he says that turning the original Mickey Mouse into a Nazi will make the brand less palatable to ordinary Americans and encouraged online activists to create memes portraying this Nazi character.
“Remember what they did to that cartoon frog?” he asked, referring to how right-wingers appropriated the Pepe the Frog cartoon and used it to spread memes espousing racist, supremacist, or anti-Semitic views on online forums.
“There was this cartoon frog that a regular cartoonist had made, and it was kind of a popular webcomic,” Knowles said of Pepe. “And then these guys on 4chan turned the frog into a Nazi… And it drove the cartoonist who made the frog completely crazy because the frog became a hate symbol. It was listed on all — SPLC, ADL, all these different lists [of hate groups and their symbols]. And we can do the same with Mickey Mouse.
“It’s not just enough to make Mickey Mouse a serial killer as you’re seeing in these movies,” he added. “Mickey Mouse has to become the most odious kind of symbol in the entire world. And we have the ability to do it…. Just through the power of memes.
“That’s what’s gotta happen,” he concluded. “‘Cause Disney’s bad, and Disney’s gotta go down.”
Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
