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Credit: Inside the MagicMickey Mouse has had a very weird makeover and is now starring alongside Minnie Mouse as a bizarre, drug-obsessed version of himself in a new music video.
Mickey Mouse entered the public domain in the United States at the beginning of 2024, albeit with a few caveats. The Walt Disney Company has managed to extend its copyright over its most iconic character for decades past when it should have become available to the general populace, most infamously through the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, often derisively called the Mickey Mouse Protection Act.
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But even Disney could not hold onto a copyright indefinitely and in January, the original Steamboat Willie version of the character entered the public domain. That means that, to a very large extent, anyone who wants to use the visual elements of Steamboat Willie for their own personal projects could. Naturally, Disney has already announced that it will bring the full force of its legal might on anyone who steps even an inch out of line, but the damage has already been done.
Controversial billionaire and noted Disney critic has already used Mickey Mouse as a bad-taste Tweet, which is par for the course with him. The Daily Show used AI to turn him into a standup comedian who mocked Governor Ron DeSantis as the “most pathetic jackass I’ve ever seen, and I know Eeyore.” Multiple horror projects starring a Steamboat Willie-style character are in development, including one immediately criticized for its apparent anti-Semitic dog-whistles.
So it should not be all that surprising that the character is getting the punk rock music video treatment, courtesy of legendary Los Angeles band NOFX.
The veteran band, led by vocalist Fat Mike, is preparing for their final shows later this year and is releasing a five-song “final chapter” to the last two NOFX records, Single Album (2021) and Double Album (2022). The new release, predictably titled Half Album, will be released (via Fat Wreck Chords) on April 19 and is described as “the songs that comprise this EP – as well as it’s [sic] two predecessors, were all recorded at the same time. Half Album is not simply the leftover songs from this session, but rather an integral part that ties the entire project together.”
Related: Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse Officially Replaced
More importantly, the lead single for Half Album is a song titled “I’m a Rat,” written by Fat Mike and has previously been recorded by Japanese punk band Hi-Standard and Fat Mike Gets Strung Out, a collection of NOFX songs “reimagined” as classical compositions. As you might expect, the music video for “I’m a Rat” features the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse getting hooked on various drugs, eating various kinds of cheese, and committing all kinds of terrible activities.
Check it out, if you dare:
Do you think this is an appropriate use of Mickey Mouse? Let’s hear your opinions in the comments below!