{"id":5539,"date":"2022-08-19T12:40:24","date_gmt":"2022-08-19T17:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/?p=5539"},"modified":"2025-04-13T19:39:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T00:39:55","slug":"coming-to-disney-in-2027-the-unbelievable-true-story-of-the-man-who-trained-birds-to-sell-opioids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/19\/coming-to-disney-in-2027-the-unbelievable-true-story-of-the-man-who-trained-birds-to-sell-opioids\/","title":{"rendered":"Coming to Disney+ in 2027: The Unbelievable True Story of the Man Who Trained Birds to Sell Opioids"},"content":{"rendered":"

A strange trailer <\/span>\u2014<\/span> released on August 28, 2021 <\/span>\u2014 revealed <\/span>that Disney was beginning production on a Disney+ limited series based on the story of a \u2018definitely real\u2019 man who made headlines by training a bird to sell drugs. The cast <\/span>\u2014<\/span> rumored to include stars such as Amy Schumer, Ice T, Ewan McGregor, and the Catalan voice of the dragon in <\/span>Mulan<\/span><\/i> \u2014<\/span> will travel to Pittsburgh to shoot on location in late 2021. Early leaks revealed that Ice T will be making his debut as a puppeteer <\/span>\u2014<\/span> operating the bird puppet <\/span>\u2014<\/span> which will be voiced by Schumer in this live action adaptation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Critics expressed surprise at the main character\u2019s decision to train the birds to sell opioids, noting that drugs of the methamphetamine variety were far more profitable. \u201cIf they want us to believe it, they should have done more research,\u201d wrote <\/span>New York Times<\/span><\/i> movie critic and economist Steven Levitt. \u201cEveryone knows birds can\u2019t fly. Besides, it\u2019s not profitable \u2014 you just can\u2019t make the math work. Believe me, I\u2019ve tried.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Disney+ has yet to release the series, but the <\/span>Washington Post<\/span><\/i> has already called it \u201cunexpected\u201d and \u201cprobably a financial disaster,\u201d adding that \u201cthe line of McDonald\u2019s Happy Meal toys containing actual opioids should have been a tip off.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Parents were similarly upset with the Happy Meal toys, branded \u201cFirst One\u2019s Free,\u201d claiming that their children were too young to gain exposure to the very real opioid crisis in the US. A Disney spokesperson responded stating, \u201cNo one is ever too young to learn about an issue. If they can see an LGBTQ+ couple in a car insurance or cereal commercial, they can see a bird selling drugs. It\u2019s time for America to get real.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand the backlash. This is a win for representation,\u201d responded Disney CEO Robert Iger. \u201cThis is the first poor-coded person we\u2019ve put in a Disney production since Sadness in <\/span>Inside Out<\/span><\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s in debt! You don\u2019t see it in the movie, but she gets weekly calls from loan sharks. You should see the interest rates they want to give her!\u201d insisted Iger when asked how an anthropomorphic personification of misery could be under financial duress. \u201cShe\u2019s actually the anthropomorphic personification of the main character\u2019s future student loans.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Star McGregor spoke enthusiastically about the project, saying \u201ceighty minutes into the movie, we\u2019re gonna reveal that this was part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe all along, so you comic book nerds better tune in <\/span>\u2014<\/span> I mean, uh, devoted fans.\u201d When asked how the intricate fabric of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was woven into this harrowing story, McGregor responded: \u201cI dunno, maybe the bird is a space villain or something. It\u2019s also in the same universe as <\/span>Phineas and Ferb<\/span><\/i> and Adam Sandler\u2019s <\/span>Pixels<\/span><\/i>, so figure that one out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Disney+ has yet to release the series, but the Washington Post has already called it \u201cunexpected\u201d and \u201cprobably a financial disaster,\u201d adding that \u201cthe line of McDonald\u2019s Happy Meal toys containing actual opioids should have been a tip off.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":425,"featured_media":5541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5539"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5543,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5539\/revisions\/5543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}