Disney VS the Air Pirates | Case File #78 - a podcast by Boy Genius

They stole Mickey Mouse and put him in comics where he did drugs and had sex. The legal battle they fought against Disney saved free speech. In the late 1960s, newspaper cartoonist Dan O'Neill wanted to walk away from his job at the San Francisco Chronicle with ownership of the copyright to his comic strip, Odd Bodkins. But they wouldn't give it to him. So he hatched a plan. He'd start sticking tons of Disney characters like Mickey Mouse into his strip and then get Disney to sue him, which would force the Chronicle to give him the copyright back to avoid legal liability. But that wasn't enough for O'Neill. He formed an underground comics collective called The Air Pirates, and started producing comics that completely stole classic Disney characters and put them into situations that the house of mouse would never approve of. This would be the start of a 13-year-long legal battle that would see Dan and the Air Pirates broke, in danger of paying millions of dollars in fines and facing possible prison time, and also fighting for the very concept of free speech. On this episode of Deep Cuts, we are diving into the court case that saved free speech, Disney VS the Air Pirates.
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