Janet Jackson Booted from Disney World

By Stephen M. Silverman

Wednesday March 03, 2004 06:12 PM EST

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As if the Disney folks didn't have enough on their plate -- its leader, Michael Eisner, was forced to step down from his chairman post Wednesday -- the powers that be at Orlando's Disney World have quietly removed a 6-ft., 700-lb. statue of Mickey Mouse that was dressed like Janet Jackson, in light of her breast-baring stunt at last month's Super owl, reports the Associated Press.

The statue was modeled after a tight black outfit Jackson wore in 1990 after the release of her album, "Rhythm Nation 1814," and was one of the 75 unveiled at the Florida theme park last fall to celebrate the 75th birthday of Mickey Mouse. (Other celebrity-inspired Mickeys included those modeled after tennis star Andre Agassi, actress Jamie Lee Curtis and TV fave Ellen DeGeneres.)

Disney spokesman Gary Foster tells the Orlando Sentinel that Jackson's Mickey was replaced because of the Super Bowl controversy, in which Justin Timberlake exposed her breast during the halftime show. Timberlake and Jackson later apologized.

As for the replacement, standing in for the Janet Mickey is a spare statue designed by an in-house Disney artist.

As it so happens, all the statues -- except the Jackson one -- have been shipped to a convention center in Philadelphia, for investors to see at Disney's annual shareholder meeting, where the fate of Eisner was decided on Wednesday.