A photograph authentically reveals Mickey Mouse dropkicking a toddler at Disneyland.
A consumer generated the pretend image with an artificial-intelligence device. Additional, the story accompanying the picture originated with a Fb web page describing its content material as satire.
A rumor circulating on-line in September 2024 claimed Mickey Mouse dropkicked a toddler at Disneyland park in Anaheim, California, after the kid known as the famed character “annoying.” For instance, the Fb web page named Justice League of Hope and Busterfriends of The Ghostbusters posted (archived) the declare, together with a picture of the alleged incident and textual content from a supposed article.
The story started:
Mickey Mouse Drop-Kicks Toddler at Disneyland After Being Referred to as ‘Annoying’
Disneyland, Anaheim – September 9, 2024_ — What began as a typical magical day at Disneyland shortly become a weird spectacle when the long-lasting Mickey Mouse allegedly drop-kicked a toddler for repeatedly calling him “annoying.”
In response to witnesses, the toddler, recognized as 3-year-old Timmy Thompson from Bakersfield, was eagerly awaiting his probability to fulfill Mickey. Nonetheless, after what one bystander described as “an excessive amount of sugar and method an excessive amount of pleasure,” Timmy allegedly began taunting Mickey, saying, “You are annoying, Mickey! You are not even actual!”
At first, Mickey appeared unfazed, sustaining his traditional animated demeanor. However because the verbal assault escalated, witnesses say the world-famous mouse, standing in the midst of Major Road U.S.A., had had sufficient.
“I noticed Mickey flip round, pause for a second, after which—BAM! He drop-kicked that child,” stated Karen Fischer, a shocked onlooker who was ready in line at a churro stand. “He was in full costume, too. It was wild. I did not know if I used to be watching a stay present or if Mickey had lastly snapped.”
The remainder of the story claimed customers virally shared footage of the incident on social media, purportedly displaying the dropkick despatched Timmy, the toddler, hovering into a close-by popcorn stand.
The story claimed Disneyland issued a press release studying, “The security and well-being of our company is our high precedence. We’re investigating this incident involving Mickey Mouse. This isn’t the conduct we promote on the Happiest Place on Earth.”
Different customers on YouTube and X additionally shared the image. Some readers appeared to interpret the picture and rumor as an incident that actually occurred.
Nonetheless, there was no proof of Mickey Mouse dropkicking a toddler at any Disney park, nor did Disneyland concern any such assertion in response. Fairly, the purported picture was a pretend generated with an artificial-intelligence device and initially shared by a Fb web page that calls its content material satire.
The Origins of the Mickey Mouse-Toddler Rumor
The pretend image and rumor about Mickey Mouse and the toddler originated with Casper Planet — a Fb web page that described its output as being humorous or satirical in nature. The bio of Casper Planet acknowledged, “Delivering the Snews that does not matter on to your Snews feed. Did we are saying that is satire? Satire, satire, humor, satire and opinion, names/places are made up.” The web page additionally displayed its location as “Satire Road.”
The web page’s proprietor or homeowners initially posted (archived) the picture and rumor on Sept. 9.
We emailed Casper Planet to ask for the title of the AI device they used to create the pretend image or if they may specify the place else they discovered it, if they didn’t create it. We additionally requested whether or not they used an AI device to write down the story and can replace this text if we obtain a response.
Snopes addressed different claims about Mickey Mouse prior to now, together with the assertion that Disney planned to retire the character forever and a rumor that a cartoon showed Mickey inappropriately making Swiss cheese.
For background, we beforehand wrote about why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that decision their output humorous or satirical.
