Who is Thomas Ronald Washington?
Despite what you might have read on Reddit forums, Thomas Washington is a fictional character. The writers of the Atlanta series, Francesca Sloan and Joseph Adcock, created this character. According to the documentary-style episode where he first appeared.
Thomas became The Walt Disney Company’s first black CEO after the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
The character graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design. He aimed to fulfill his childhood dream of working for Disney as an animator. After attending a seminar organized by Art Babbitt, the creator of Goofy, Disney hired him. He worked as an assistant animator on DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp as his first project.
When Disney’s interim CEO died in the 1992 riots, the board hired a white man, Tom Washington. This is where things got interesting. As a result of a first name mixup, Thomas Ronald Washington filled the position instead. The board had no choice but to appoint him despite their displeasure.
Who is Thomas Ronald Washington Based on?
Despite Disney’s image as a “woke” company with an inclusive culture, the company has never had a black man as CEO. The character of Thomas Washington is possibly based on the first black Disney employee. According to different sources, Floyd Norman, the first African-American animator at Disney, was most likely the inspiration for the Atlanta writers. According to Norman, growing up in Santa Barbara, California, protected him from racism. In 1956, he joined the Disney studio and began work as an inbetweener on Sleeping Beauty. As an inbetweener, he helped Frank Thomas work on the fairies Fauna, Flora, and Merryweather.
Conclusion
As the new CEO, Thomas made key organizational changes. First, he questioned why the company’s famous character, Mickey Mouse, would keep Pluto as a pet and Goofy as a friend. He made “the blackest movie of all time to fix the situation.” The goal of this movie was to address every aspect of American culture. He used the project A Goofy Movie and his son Maxwell as inspiration for the character Max Goof.
Unfortunately, after seeing Disney’s hierarchy change his intended film’s conclusion, Thomas disappeared from the entertainment scene. However, his wife claimed that Thomas’ brief employment left a lasting impression on the company.
