Meryl Streep Calls Walt Disney Anti-Semetic and a 'gender bigot'

In her speech, presenting British actress Emma Thompson with the Best Actress award at the National Board of Review awardsgala in New York, the Oscar winning actress Meryl Streep slammed the lateproducer and filmmaker Walt Disney as a racist "gender bigot" and ananti-Semetic.

The 64-year-old actress' speech clocked atnearly 10 minutes, during which she spoke about Disney, saying: "Disney, who brought joy, arguably, tobillions of people, was perhaps, or had some … racist proclivities."

Streep added: " He formed and supported an anti-Semiticindustry lobby. And he was certainly, on the evidence of his company'spolicies, a gender bigot." Meryl read a letter sent to an aspiring female illustrator from his company in 1938. It included theline: “Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparingthe cartoons for the screen, as that task is performed entirely by young men.”

Emma Thompson portrayed author P.L Travers in Saving Mr. Banks, a film about the relationship between Travers and Disneyduring their negotiations to convince her of buying the rights to her novel"Mary Poppins," which he later turned into a film.

Meryl Streep will be co-starringwith Johnny Depp in Into the Woods, which is a Disney production.