Conan O'Brien calls on Disney to change Coco film name

Conan O’Brien accuses Disney of stealing his nickname for their new animated film, “Coco.”

Disney recently released a trailer for their latest Pixar movie, Coco, which is inspired by the Mexican holiday the Day of the Dead. Apparently, word of the project just reached Conan O’Brien, who expressed his unhappiness with their use of his Team Coco moniker on Thursday’s episode of Conan.

After noting that the studio is notoriously litigious about their characters, claiming that “Disney would launch a lawsuit into my ass” if he tried to use an image of Snow White in a skit, the host showed a short clip from the trailer which showed the lead character, 12-year-old Miguel, arriving in the Land of the Dead accompanied by a Mexican hairless dog named Dante. However, it earned boos from the audience when the name of the film was displayed on-screen.

More from Conan

“Coco?! Name sounds familiar, doesn’t it?,” said an outraged O’Brien. He then explained that he was given the nickname by Tom Hanks eight years ago during a visit to The Tonight Show, before it took off. He would later use Coco when he launched Conan on TBS, using it for the show’s website, YouTube channel and even using it to sell Team Coco t-shirts.

He added: “It’s also become my nickname. It’s international. Everywhere I travel, people call me Coco. My own son calls me Coco. He doesn’t know my real name! It’s how I’ve been known in the world the past eight years.”

O’Brien then came up with an idea to get back at Disney, threatening to use characters like Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Tinkerbell and Donald Duck in the opening of his show unless they change the name of the movie. “I’m not screwing around!,” he warned.

Watch the alternative opening credits along with the rest of the clip below:

Next: President Trump calls Obama to talk about Moonlight, transgender order on Conan

Coco follows Miguel as he sets off on a journey to become an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt), meeting charming trickster Hector (Gael Garcia Bernal) along the way as they unlock the true story behind his family’s history and their generation-old ban on music. To promote the movie, Pixar just released a two-minute animated short film titled Dante’s Lunch as a way to introduce its supporting character. The movie hits theaters on November 22, three weeks before the Dia de los Muertos celebration.

Conan returns with new episodes on Monday, April 10th at 11 p.m. on TBS.

Home/Conan

Conan O’Brien calls on Disney to change Coco film name

By Hector Cruz | Apr 3, 2017

Conan O’Brien accuses Disney of stealing his nickname for their new animated film, “Coco.”