Disney World actress claims she was barred from speaking Spanish while in character
Many foreign visitors were ‘French Canadian’ and ‘Spanish speakers’, she said
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Your support makes all the difference.A former Disney World Resort actress has said she was barred from speaking in Spanish while at work, but did so because she enjoyed entertaining park visitors.
The woman, Jessica Tremmel, alleged in a TikTok video last week that she was forbidden from speaking in any language aside from English while dressed as Lady Tremaine.
The character, alternatively known as the “evil stepmother” from Cinderella, only speaks English in the original Disney film – although the Disney classic has been widely translated.
She said Disney did not allow workers to speak foreign languages to visitors even when English was not their first language – and that she enjoyed doing so. She was not punished for doing so, she said.
“I loved just going up to tables where people didn’t speak English and surprising them with the fact that I spoke their language,” the TikTok user said.
Explaining that foreign languages were apparently “a big no no” for Disney World actors, she said and that she spoke “two other languages beside English,” which were Spanish and French.
“If I had been caught, that is a big reprimand and potentially getting fired,” she said in the TikTok, which was titled “Things I could’ve got fired for”.
Responding to a TikTok user who argued Lady Tremaine should speak French because Cinderella takes place in France, the actress agreed.
She said that is was “very hard to cast actors in the US who speak French”, and that Disney allows actors to speak foreign languages in non-US parks.
The TikTok user said it was “mostly French Canadians and there are a ton of Spanish speakers that visit us”, that she spoke to as an actress at Disney World Resort.
The Independent has approached Disney World Resort for comment, and it remains unclear when the TikTok user stopped working at the resort.
Disney World employees have reportedly been disciplined in the past for social media posts about work.
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