Yahoo Movies Minnie Mouse gets her Walk of Fame star 40 years after Mickey, because sexism
Hollywood added another star to its Walk of Fame on Monday for one of the most legendary names in showbusiness: Minnie Mouse.
Yes, the 90-year-old Disney character has been given her own five-point spot on Hollywood Boulevard though the fact that this honour has been bestowed forty years after Mickey Mouse got his own hasn’t been lost on anyone.
Katy Perry made a thinly-veiled remark about the time difference during her speech during the unveiling event.
“Seeing Minnie is like returning home, it is a special skill to bring joy to so many and she does it with an effortless bat of the lash,” the singer said.
“So today – a brief 40 years after Mickey got his star – I am delighted to honour Minnie and her magic with hers.”
Others have been pointing out the double standard on social media, angry that the first lady of Walt Disney didn’t get her star in 1978 like her mouse husband.
So Minnie Mouse, and animated female character, has just gotten her star The Hollywood Walk of Fame! She’s literally the First Lady of Disney and she’s JUST NOW getting a star, but sexism isn’t real? Yea ok.
— (@captsaltycurlz) January 23, 2018
Hollywood sexism in a nutshell: 40 years after Mickey Mouse got his star on the Walk of Fame, Minnie Mouse finally got hers.
— Jon Morse (@jonfmorse) January 23, 2018
There are 17 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame dedicated to animated characters: 10 for male characters, four for groups of characters and just three for female characters.
Snow White and Tinker Bell got their stars in 1987 and 2010, respectively, and with Minnie only just getting hers now you have to wonder what’s going on in Disney HQ.
To get a star a celebrity has to be nominated (by a studio, fan club etc.) and an application filled out in their name, which is then submitted to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for approval.
They take into consideration the famous name’s popularity, longevity, charitable contributions and awards and if they approve the application, the nominator must pay $30,000 for the cost of putting it down, the unveiling event and other such fees that come with it.
Minnie Mouse ticks all the criteria boxes with flying colours and Disney are loaded to there’s no reason that she shouldn’t have had her star forty years ago.
Better late than never I suppose.
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