Cops Tried Playing Disney Music to Censor a Video
A squad car loudspeaker blasted Toy Story, then Mulan … and then they got caught
COPS IN SANTA ANA, CALIF. GOT CAUGHT TRYING TO PLAY THE “TOY STORY” THEME TO FOIL A YOUTUBER RECORDING THEIR ACTIONS.
This time, it’s Disney.
Around 11 p.m. on Monday in Santa Ana, a city just south of Los Angeles, a YouTuber with a channel called Santa Ana Audits started recording a group of police investigating a car theft in his neighborhood.
Suddenly, a police squad car started blasting “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” the theme from the 1995 Disney classic Toy Story, in an apparent attempt to prevent video of the cops’ activity going online.
“Hey, he’s playing music,” the YouTuber said in Spanish. “Because he knows that on my [YouTube] channel, I can’t upload videos with music in them.”
For a few moments, the video shows red and blue lights flashing across the street, as we hear lyrics that recall the animated friendship of Buzz Lightyear and Woody:
When the road looks rough ahead / and you’re miles and miles from your nice warm bed / you just remember what your old pal said / Boy, you’ve got a friend in me
This is yet another entry in a pattern of police playing copyrighted music while being filmed. Starting last year, cops have played Sublime and The Beatles in Beverly Hills, country music in Illinois, and Taylor Swift in Alameda County, California, in response to being recorded by civilians, in what is looking more and more like a collective attempt of police officers attempting to trick online platforms into auto-censoring videos of their actions.
As the Santa Ana video continues, we hear the music switch to “We Don’t Talk about Bruno” from Disney’s 2021 Encanto, then to “Reflection” from Mulan.
“You guys get paid to listen to music?” the YouTuber asks. The officers do not answer: instead, we hear the final refrain of the Mulan centerpiece ballad:
When will my reflection show / who I am inside?
The squad car’s audio system then switches to “Un Poco Loco” from Disney’s 2017 Coco.
Off camera, another resident can be heard complaining about the volume. “I’m trying to go to bed,” she says. She approaches the squad car, asking: “Can you turn the music down?”
The car speaker stops playing, but this is where things take a turn. A man named Johnathan Ryan Hernandez, who just so happens to be a city councilmember in the Santa Ana ward where this is all taking place, also walks up to the squad car.
In an interview with VICE News, Hernandez explained that he lives about half a block away, and was getting ready for bed when he heard Disney music blasting outside. Concerned, he’d gone out to see what was going on.
At that point, a small crowd of residents had gathered, so Hernandez walked up to the officer who was running the impromptu Disney DJ set and asked why he was playing loud music.
“Why? Because it will be copyright infringement for him,” the officer says, pointing at the camera.
“So you’re using our resources that way?” Councilmember Hernandez says.
“No, I’m not using our resources. It’s my phone,” the officer replies.
“Do you know who I am?” Hernandez asks. The officer pauses, then says that he does recognize the city official — and his demeanor shifts.
“You’re not gonna conduct yourself like that in front of my neighbors,” Councilmember Hernandez continues. The officer apologizes to Hernandez, but Hernandez isn’t satisfied: “Apologize to him,” he says, motioning to the camera-holding YouTuber.