The Disney family is outraged. Walt’s 94-year-old widow, Lillian, and daughter Diane released a 73-page refutation of Eliot’s claims, charging more than 150 factual errors. Writes a pained Mrs. Disney, Eliot “must have assumed I was no longer alive and able to bear witness.”
According to Eliot, Disney was a dark genius who washed his hands obsessively and breakfasted on “doughnuts dunked in scotch.” He commandeered the image of Mickey Mouse from animator Ub Iwerks, and once told another animator, leaving to work elsewhere, “Off you go to work with those Jews.” The family calls such charges “garbage.”
The Disney family seems angriest at the contention that Walt spied for the FBI. They have statements from former FBI chief William Webster and two former agents saying Disney wasn’t a paid informant but a “contact” who may never have been contacted. Eliot, who relied on heavily blacked-out FBI files obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, fumes: “If they want to prove Disney was never an informant, let them release all the FBI files.”
