A group of online activists want the Walt Disney Company to relinquish their trademark on the phrase, “Hakuna Matata,” which appears in the immensely popular “Lion King” movies and television shows, because Disney’s “ownership” is emblematic of “colonialism” and “cultural appropriation.”
CNN reports that more than 50,000 people have signed an online petition urging Disney to drop the mark, which it snagged back in 1994, when the original “Lion King” movie hit theaters. They were granted additional trademark protection in 2003, allowing the company to use the phrase on “clothing or footwear.”
“Zimbabwean activist Shelton Mpala” created the petition, which he says is designed to “to draw attention to the appropriation of African culture and the importance of protecting our heritage, identity and culture from being exploited for financial gain by third parties.”
“This plundered artwork serves to enrich or benefit these museums and corporations and not the creators or people it’s derived from,” Mpala told CNN. In the petition itself, Mpala accuses Disney of, among other things, “colonialism and robbery” for profiting off the phrase. – READ MORE