1 Amazingly -- or perhaps not -- this thing is getting a lot of attention. The Evening Standard has an article about it. I'll quote just a bit:

     Fans were divided over the professor's remarks.

     One wrote online: "I think this is a reach. She was friends with a   chimney sweep. When she went out and danced with him she got soot on her face if I recall this correctly."

     Another wrote: "Mary Poppins wasn’t flirting with black face! It was soot in their faces from being a chimney!!!"

     A third said: "This is a candidate for the stupidest New York Times article of all time."

I think the third comment pretty well nails it.

The author has this to say:

     Author Mr Pollack-Pelzner posted online after his article was published: "The chief reason I wrote this article was the hope that a Disney exec would read it, take another look at the forthcoming Dumbo remake, and ask if there was anything just a little bit racist they might want to rethink before it hits the big screen.

     "Here’s one thing I’ve learned about the alt-right, after I wrote this article and received a zillion hate messages in response: they sure like Mary Poppins!"

Hate messages indeed. I hope he learned more than just that people like Mary Poppins!