Every year, millions of Disney fans line up at the studio’s theme parks around the world to get a chance to meet the legendary Mickey Mouse and get his John Hancock in their autograph books full of character signatures. But in a peculiar error, his signature was mailed to hundreds. 176 Rhode Island residents received their state tax refunds and rebates signed by Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney this week. And since we don’t live in ToonTown, they were invalid to cash in.
In place of Rhode Island Department of Treasury’s General Treasurer Seth Magaziner and State Controller Peter Keenan, the official signatures of Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney took their places on corporate tax refunds, sales tax rebates and tax credit refunds sent out on July 27. The state of Rhode Island claims it was a “technical glitch,” per Deadline. The use of these iconic signatures instead of actual members of treasury is reportedly due to the use of the treasury division’s test print files.
Those who received the invalid checks have been promised replacements from the state of Rhode Island. It’s unknown whether any checks endorsed by Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney were actually deposited. If that actually worked, the fictional mouse and late great animation legend are technically tied to some kind of fraudulent check scheme, right? I joke, but it's kind of funny to imagine good ‘ole Mickey crafting some kind of embezzlement job. Only in 2020, am I right?
Like many businesses on the entertainment front, Mickey Mouse probably wouldn’t be happy to hear extra dollars were being pulled in his name right about now. The Walt Disney company has already lost billions due to its months of park closures. All four of the parks in Walt Disney World in Florida recently opened last month with safety measures and increased temperature screenings. The reopening has been heavily criticized and slowed down, as COVID-19 cases in the state continue to rise.
The Walt Disney Company is finding success with its streaming platform Disney+, which recently found increased success with the release of Hamilton causing a huge spike in Disney+ app downloads by 74 percent. The House of Mouse also released Artemis Fowl and Beyoncé’s epic visual album Black Is King on the platform and plans to release the new live-action movie The One and Only Ivan exclusively on Disney+ this month.
Disney has a number of exciting releases in store in the near future including Pixar’s emotional Soul and Marvel’s Black Widow coming later this year. The company also recently announced their next animated film will be called Luca, which will follow the titular character’s “unforgettable” summer in the Italian Riviera.
Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more Disney news and look closely at your checks folks.
