A new rumor has popped up indicating that Disney now owns the rights to Dr. Seuss’s “The Cat in The Hat.” The story seems to have stemmed from a video clip posted by Katt Williams. He claims that when he went by the name Katt in the Hat, he got a cease and desist letter from The Walt Disney Company. 

During an interview on the Club Shay Shay show Katt Williams said that he no longer uses the Katt in the Hat name because Disney sent him a cease and desist.

“Look. The truth of the matter is Disney sued me. Yeah, I was Katt in the hat. They sent me a cease and desist letter and I’m not even making $25,000 a year, and the mega-company Disney has sent me a cease and desist telling me I can’t use any variations of that name. Fine, I’m Katt Williams. That’s all that happened.”

While other sites, like The New Yorker, have indicated that the name was because of the hat he wore when he had teeth missing, Katt Williams claims Disney threatened to sue him.

I can’t speak to the authenticity of his claim because it is possible that Disney had some temporary deal in place with the actual owners of “The Cat in the Hat” – Seuss Enterprises, L.P., at that time, for a project that never was created. Maybe they used that deal to send out a cease and desist, but Disney doesn’t own the character or have any ownership over it. 

Currently, Universal Studios does have a deal in place with Seuss Enterprises, as they use some characters in Seuss Landing. Universal, along with Dreamworks, created the film starring Mike Meyers in 2023. 

Disney did help distribute Dreamworks pictures at one time, but that no longer the case.

We can never know for sure if Disney had a deal for a project with Seuss Enterprises, LLP, but we do know they don’t outright own the iconic Cat in the Hat character. 

What do you think? Comment and let us know.