A guest at Disney World got very, er, animated while attending the Hall of Presidents attraction on Wednesday.
At the point in the proceedings where an animatronic version of Donald Trump takes the presidential oath, comedian and actor Jay Malsky decided to add some editorial commentary.
As heard at the 1:20 mark in the video above, Malsky began chanting “Lock him up!”
Over a loudspeaker, a Disney employee asked Malsky to sit down and be quiet. Another person yelled “He’s not real!” ― presumably in reference to the Trump robot.
Later, Malsky told the blog Theme Park University that he didn’t stop chanting until “a few folks walked towards me and security came to make sure it didn’t turn into a Trump rally.”
Malsky had planned his actions in advance. Via Twitter, he explained the rationale for his rant:
Malsky further elaborated on his protest in a emailed statement to Splinter:
Donald Trump is a mad man with fascist tendancies [sic] who has persuaded millions of middle-class Americans to vote against their own interests. So I was worried I’d be put on some sort of list (if I’m not already) and probably incur the wrath of ignorant sheeple. But I figured a bunch of them would be at this ride and wanted to show their kids what a protest looks like before Trump murders democracy. If people are upset that I disrupted their family vacation, I hope they’ll think about the thousands [of] children being taken away from their parents because of Trump’s racist immigration policies, or the parents of the hundreds of trans people murdered each year by transphobic and homophobic people, or the negative impacts of the tax bill on poor and middle-income Americans. I encourage anyone outraged that I interrupted a ride at Disney to check their privelege [sic].
Malsky also emphasized to Splinter that Disney World’s security team was “amazing” and “could not have been more professional and courteous to me once they made sure I wasn’t a legitimate threat to anyone.”
Malsky says he was so caught up in the moment, he isn’t sure how the protest went over with other audience members.
“The first two tweets that popped up were one of support and one of anger so I guess 50/50?” he told HuffPost. “Felt like I won the popular vote but the electoral college overrode the will of the people.”
As might be expected, the video is getting a lot of reaction on Twitter, including conservative writer Ben Shapiro, who may have been joking with this tweet:
Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) attempted to explain the difference between protesting the real president and yelling at a robot.
Malsky wasn’t having any of it.
The snark came from all directions, some of it directed at Malsky, some of it apparently in support of him...
Malsky responded to many commenters, including one woman who brought up that age-old question, “What about the children?”
The Daily Caller noted that Malsky has performed as Hillary Clinton in drag and called him “the saddest person in America.”
Malsky seemed unbothered:
The animatronic Trump officially joined the Hall of Presidents cast on Dec. 19. On Thursday, Orlando Weekly pointed out perhaps the most notable thing about Malsky’s protest: “We’re honestly a bit surprised it took this long to happen.”
Before You Go
