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Energylandia taking the opportunity for some light-hearted corona=updates:

With the recent Black Lives Matter protests, Efteling's somewhat questionable representations of race have come into question. Monsieur Cannibale is the park's teacups-like ride, and the centrepiece is of a black character, with the ride being that you're riding in various cooking pots whilst he cooks you. A look for those unacquainted: Looopings reported that a couple took signs and posted on social media that "Monsier Cannibale is Racism": The park's original response was that only when major maintenance is needed would a change to the ride's look be considered, with it being emphasised that the character is a caricature. However, the ride is now "closed for maintenance" until June 20th. This isn't the first time Efteling has come under fire for racist attractions in recent years. Carnival Festival, which takes you round the world with different figures in an omnimover system, came under fire for its depictions of Chinese and African characters. These have slowly been changed though. The Netherlands itself has quite a few issues with racism, such as a blackface sidekick to Santa Claus for many years (I don't know how prevalent that is in today's society, but I know it's still been a recent issue). It'll be interesting to see what the response is from Efteling now. Having these sorts of character and depictions be allowed is something that comes from a different time, and now more than ever is the time to move forward arguably. Other parks have slowly moved away from these 'possibly-racist' ideas too (for example, Phantasialand haven't exclusively had black workers in their Africa land since 2017). It's a sensitive issue that needs to be responded to correctly.