Actress and co-host of "The View" Whoopi Goldberg is urging Disney to create a Wakanda themed attraction in honor of the late "Black Panther" actor, Chadwick Boseman.
Goldberg tweeted Sunday asking Disney to consider it writing, "we don’t really need another Frozen land BUT what we could use is Wakonda [sic]."
Boseman played T'Challa in the blockbuster superhero Marvel film “Black Panther.” The character was the king of the fictitious African land of Wakanda.
Boseman died at the age of 43 at his home in Los Angeles. He had been battling colon cancer for four years.
Walt Disney World's Orlando theme park has multiple "Frozen" attractions, inspired by the hit film series, as well as one at Epcot.
In the Twitter message, Goldberg wrote, "Please Disneyworld Disneyland PLEASE build in Chadwick Boseman's name WAKONDA (Sic)."
Rev. Al Sharpton has called Boseman an important pillar that humanized several Black historical trailblazers in his roles — including color-line breaking baseball star Jackie Robinson, legendary singer James Brown and the first African American U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Boseman's family said he endured “countless surgeries and chemotherapy” while portraying King T’Challa of Wakanda in the Oscar-nominated “Black Panther,” a film that proved a person of color could lead in a successful superhero film.
“For him to pass at this time when we are disproportionately affected by COVID and have all of these attacks by law enforcement, and him being the symbol bringing us to Wakanda, it’s just a blow,” Sharpton said. “To hear that our superhero who projected a positive light was now gone, it was a gut blow.”
Boseman was elevated to a stage that many Black actors don’t get the chance to occupy, said Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James. And his ability to be “transcendent” on that stage brought a comic book character to life for many in the Black community.
“Even though we knew that it was like a fictional story, it actually felt real. It actually felt like we finally had our Black superhero and nobody could touch us. So to lose that, it’s sad in our community," James said, lamenting on the loss of “the Black Panther and the Black Mamba in the same year.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
