Thread by @matthewgserrano

PSA: José Carioca from the three caballeros is not pronounced like “hoh-say” because he is not Hispanic. He is Brazilian and speaks Portuguese not Spanish. The correct pronunciation for his name is closer to “joh-say”. Here’s a thread on all the times Disney got his name wrong…

So first addressing the Hispanic thing. José is Brazilian and therefore Latino because Brazil is in Latin America but he is not Hispanic because in Brazil they speak Portuguese not Spanish. Panchito here however is Mexican and therefore both Hispanic and Latino. Confusing I know.

So anyway here is José in his very first on screen appearance in “Saludos Amigos” (1942) introducing himself as zho-ZE not ho-SE.

Here is José in “Two Happy Amigos” (1960) where Donald remembered how to pronounce his name correctly after all these years.

And here is where we go downhill. José appears in this short from 1999 where he refers to being Brazilian and yet Minnie calls him the Spanish pronunciation of Jose. For now let’s give Minnie the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps she doesn’t know they don’t speak Spanish in Brazil.

José is now being voiced in this clip and in the clip above by Rob Paulsen who for the first time in the characters history make José pronounces his own name wrong on the house of mouse tv show in 2001.

The Three Caballeros get their own ride at Epcot in 2007 where sadly he once again does not pronounce his own name correctly.

Next here is Mickeys Roadster Racers where just about everyone including now Donald too pronounces José wrong.

Duck tales 2017 where he is now fully Mexican apparently.

For a moment the 2018 Mickey Mouse short “Carnaval” finally brought him back to his Brazilian roots

And then finally the Three Caballeros finally get their own show in the form of “Legend of the Three Caballeros” in 2018 and sadly José still cannot get his own name right.

As we come to the end of this thread please do your part to spread awareness. The next time you see José at some Disney theme park make sure to say hello or olá in Portuguese (it sounds the same as hola in Spanish) and remember to always pronounce it zho-ZE not ho-SE.

Obrigado!

Thanks for reading my thread! If you would like to continue to support Latinos please consider donating to the nonprofit I work at called Youth Cinema Project! We teach Latino kids across Southern California about filmmaking! youthcinemaproject.org