Comedian Andrew Santino has a new Hulu comedy special, White House. In the special, Santino jokes about a host of controversial topics. There’s one topic, however, that Hulu’s parent company, Disney, couldn’t stomach: a joke involving Disney.
In an interview with Variety, the 41-year-old comedian is asked about his hilarious bit about “Disney adults,” widely described as adult Disney fanatics often seen at its theme parks with lanyards covered in commemorative pins, among other goofy things.
The bit didn’t sit well with Disney.
“You hilariously rant about Disney adults in the special, which streams on Hulu, which is owned by Disney,” the reporter asks Santino. “How soon after you sent in the cut did you get a phone call from the Mouse House?”
“Immediately,” Santino responded. “They couldn’t wait to trim the fat on those jokes. Candidly, we went back and forth, and they didn’t really enjoy having that stuff in there. We found a happy medium, and I was able to keep the jokes in there, but [the jokes] were manipulated. I’m not going to lie: They definitely changed the jokes. I was not stoked about that. We got into a little bit of a war. They did not want those jokes in there.”
The Hulu special apparently includes several other controversial topics Santino broaches. But that’s not what Disney cared about, according to Santino.
“My argument was: I joke about a lot of other stuff in the special that’s controversial,” he said. “I don’t think joking about people who like Disney as grown-ups is a controversial take, but they disagreed.”
Santino’s new Hulu comedy special, White Noise, drops on Friday.
