Let me tell you about the man who attempted to persuade the world – well, not me exactly, but definitely all of you – that he was basically the long-lost heir to the Magic Kingdom. According to him, his mother’s maiden name was Disney — which, fine, that part is true. But from there, he took that one fact and built an entire fantasy in his head – and somehow sold tickets to the rest of the world. Forget Marvel. Forget Harry Potter. This man was starring in Delusion: The Ride.
Were he and Walt distant cousins? Maybe. Maybe not. Honestly, I didn’t care enough to dig through the family tree. But according to his own brother, there were zero actual ties to the Disney empire. No castle. No kingdom. Not even a discounted churro.
It was all just … a story. A big, sparkly, influencer-grade story.
And that’s when it hit me: this is the world now. People will claim anything — and the internet just nods along like, “Yeah, sounds legit.”
Influencers pretend their lives are perfect. Scammers pretend they’re CEOs. And apparently, some people pretend they own Disney.
Honestly, it’s impressive. They believe their own stories so hard they could pass a lie-detector while wearing Mickey ears.
So no, I don’t feel bad for falling for it – because I never did. I was dealing with real abuse, not fairy-tale nonsense. Most of you, however… that’s a different story. We’ve all been tricked by someone — online, in person, or in a DM from a fake picture hiding behind a ‘verified’ account.
“And by the way, he is not a billionaire. Never was. The only billions involved were the ones in his imagination. If anything, I’m just relieved I didn’t end up in a fake theme park built out of his imagination.
I am really me. Trust me, I checked. With conviction (and a laugh),
Jennifer Nicole Nelson, Principal Designer
