Disney are planning to scrap the controversial Siamese Cat characters and ‘reinvent’ their song for the upcoming Lady and the Tramp reboot.
The characters from the 1955 film have long been criticised for stereotyping Asian characters as conniving and duplicitous.
The original version of Lady and the Tramp featured a performance from singer Peggy Lee as cats Si and Am, who attempt to trick humans into thinking the cocker spaniel Lady is dangerous.
As Variety reports, the Siamese Cat Song – which features the refrain “We are Siamese if you please/We are Siamese if you don’t please” – is being reimagined by Janelle Monae’s artist collective Wondaland for the movie.
The characters will also reportedly be dropped from the film completely.
Kaylin Frank, a vice president in Creative Music and Soundtracks at Disney, confirmed Monae’s involvement in the project at the MUSEXPO Creative Summit in Burbank, California.
“We’re dealing with Wondaland, her team of incredibly creative writers and producers that she works with. So our director has engaged with her in terms of what the storytelling [of] the song needs to be,” she said.
The upcoming version of the film was announced back in 2018, and set to star Tessa Thompson as Lady and Justin Theroux as Tramp. It will be released on Disney’s forthcoming streaming service Disney Plus, which arrives in the US in November.
It’s the latest move from the studio to remove controversial content from their films, after it was previously revealed that the Jim Crow scene will be removed from the original version of Dumbo on the streaming site, while the much derided Song of the South will not feature at all.
Lady in the Tramp is expected to be released on Disney Plus on November 12.
