Sen. Ted Cruz is getting roasted on Twitter for mocking Disney’s donation to help rebuild the Notre Dame Cathedral after a massive fire ripped through the roof of the Parisian landmark earlier this week.
The Texas Republican Wednesday night took a stab at the Walt Disney Company’s $5 million pledge to the restoration project, wondering how taking such funds could affect the classic building.
“Wonderful! Will we see Disney princesses in the new stained glass?” Cruz quipped.
The backlash was swift, with scores of people slamming the joke as “insensitive” and “totally inappropriate.” Cruz also immediately earned an unfavorable Twitter ratio, his tweet getting nearly 10 times as many comments as retweets.
“Imagine taking a genuinely good thing and then making the world’s stupidest, most insensitive statement to commend it,” one twitter-user wrote.
Another urged: “Ted, honey, please stay in your lane and leave the comedy to the professionals. Surely you can find SOMETHING you’re good at. Do that.”
Others were quick to point out that church officials have said Notre Dame’s iconic stained glass windows were spared in the blaze, which claimed portions of the roof and toppled a spire. Twitter also noted the obvious connection between Disney and the Cathedral – it’s the setting for the 1996 film, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and its 2002 sequel.
The company also has a Disneyland theme park near Paris.
More than 400 firefighters responded to the historic house of worship Monday evening and worked late into the night to contain the flames. Officials announced they’d finally controlled the fire some 10 hours later and launched an investigation into the potential cause.
The devastating fire prompted an outpouring of pledges and donations to help in the renovation efforts. French Billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault, who is also married to actress Salma Hayek, donated $113 million while another two wealthy French families vowed a combined $587 million.
