A widely circulated video from Port Neches-Groves High School “Indianettes” of Texas shows the team dancing and singing “scalp ’em Indians, Scalp ’em” while performing moves that reflect the culture at a parade at Disney’s Magic Kingdom Native Americans seem to match amusement park.
“The live performance at our park did not reflect our core values and we regret that it took place,” Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Wahler said in a statement. “It did not match the audition tape provided by the school and we took immediate action to ensure this does not happen again.”
Tara Houska, a tribal and Ojibwe advocate, tweeted the video.
“Shame on @DisneyParks hosting this,” Houska wrote. “Nostalgic racism is RACISM.”
On its website, the school district said the “Indianettes” drill team has a tradition of more than 50 years. CNN reached out to the school district for comment Saturday and Sunday, but received no response. The school district’s Twitter account has been deleted.
In a statement to KFDM, a spokesman for the school said the team had previously performed the routine at Disney with no issues.
“This is our eighth time at Disney,” said the spokesperson. “You don’t ask what you’re going to do in relation to a performance. It’s just a competition video and you see the uniforms. You didn’t ask for anything else. This is the same performance we’ve all done eight times.”
Port Neches-Groves High School has previously been asked to change its mascot, which its website lists as “Native American” and is portrayed by a Native American with a feathered headdress.
The Cherokee Nation said it has been reaching out to the school district and school board in recent years, asking them to “discontinue these objectionable images, chants, symbolism and other practices in their school traditions,” said Cherokee Nation school principal Chuck Hoskin Jr Friday in a statement about the recent Orlando performance.
The online reaction to the parade follows a controversial week for Disney.
Last Friday, Disney CEO Bob Chapek apologized for his previous public silence on a controversial Florida bill that would ban certain sexual orientation and gender identity instructions for children from kindergarten through third grade. Critics call it the “Don’t Say Gay Bill”. Chapek initially said the company would not publicly condemn it. Some of the company’s employees went on short strikes in protest. The organizers of the Disney strike have not identified themselves, but they do have a Twitter account, @DisneyWalkout, and a website, whereischapek.com. Last week, they wrote an open letter on their website, saying that Disney’s recent comments “totally fail to reflect the scale of the threat to LGBTQIA+ safety posed by this legislation.”
It’s not known how many employees are participating, but Disney’s LGBTQ+ employee resource groups are not involved, a source familiar with the matter told CNN earlier this week.
Chapek later apologized for his initial response. “Speaking to you, reading your messages, and meeting with you has helped me better understand how painful our silence has been,” Chapek wrote in a letter to staff last Friday.
— Frank Pallotta of CNN Business contributed to this story.