Well, maybe this is one way to get President Donald Trump to stop talking.
Disney World, which traditionally has given speaking roles to presidential robots in its Hall of Presidents, is reportedly considering a non-speaking Trump to avoid offending visitors.
The Florida resort’s Hall of Presidents, currently closed, features robotic versions of all previous American presidents. A robot Trump will join the ranks when the hall reopens later this year.
The animatronic Trump was to have been unveiled June 30, and Disney World hasn’t confirmed a reopening date.
But a theme park with the goal of pleasing everyone hasn’t quite figured out how to portray a president who inspires very extreme reactions, Motherboard reports, citing a source “close to Walt Disney Imagineering.”
Since the mid-1990s, Disney’s Hall of Presidents has featured a recorded statement from the current president, including Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Trump, however, hasn’t made himself available to record a speech for his robot, Motherboard reports.
Then there’s the matter of Trump’s unpopularity.
“Given how polarizing the president is right now, Disney Parks & Resorts is currently trying to find [a solution] that approaches middle ground,” the source told Motherboard. “They want to include our 45th commander-in-chief in this 45-year-old theme park attraction, while at the same time, not seem to endorse or support some of Trump’s more controversial policies.”
Sources told Walt Disney World Today and Motherboard that Trump will most likely be shown in a non-speaking capacity.
Disney also appears to be in a non-speaking capacity about the attraction, failing to respond to multiple inquiries from HuffPost.
Disney World typically hypes the addition of a new president to the exhibit with photos and press releases. Not so with Trump, according to Tom Corless, who runs Walt Disney World Today.
“Three months into Obama’s administration, they showed photos of him recording lines for the exhibit and photos of his figure,” Corless told HuffPost. “They haven’t even mentioned that this time.”
Disney CEO Robert Iger announced shortly after the November election that Trump would be added to the hall, sparking a backlash.
One petition asks Disney to make sure Trump’s animatronic figure didn’t speak, especially since some of his more famous quotes ― “Grab them by the pussy,” “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters,” and “My fingers are long and beautiful, as, it has been well documented, are various other parts of my body” ― aren’t nearly as inspiring as, say, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”
Related
Before You Go
