By Joshua Tyler
| Published
Before the era of streaming, viewing options were limited. That meant if it was on TV and good, everyone knew what it was. And everyone knew who Ernest was in the 80s and 90s.
He was a fixture of that era, appearing everywhere, and beloved for decades until modern culture stepped in. Now he’s vanished, due in part to the censoring of his biggest motion picture outing, the one that made him a superstar, Ernest Goes to Camp.
Ernest Goes To Camp Cannot Be Watched
You can’t watch Ernest Goes to Camp anywhere; the movie has been erased from streaming. Once a huge hit in the 80s VHS rental market, it would probably be a hit on streaming too, with those now-grown kids who loved Ernest wanting to show it to their children.
The movie’s still relevant, touching on themes of friendship and being different, and in an era where there’s a shortage of new family-friendly comedies, we need classic movies like the ones starring Ernest. Unfortunately, Ernest Goes to Camp is being actively eliminated. If the dark forces at work here have their way, the world will forget Ernest Goes to Camp ever existed.
What went wrong? Why is Ernest Goes to Camp being erased from history? What kind of person would throw away a perfectly good movie?
Ernest P. Worrell’s Origin Story
First, you need to understand where the Ernest character comes from. It’s one of the weirdest comedy superstar origin stories in the history of Hollywood.
See, Ernest P. Warrell wasn’t originally created to be anything other than a local commercial product pitchman. He was played by veteran character actor Jim Varney and created by a Nashville ad company.
Ernest’s first appearance was in a 1980 ad featuring the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. The character was an instant hit, and Varney’s ad agency was soon deluged with requests to see more of him.
Ernest went national with commercials for big brands like Sprite. If you were around in the 80s watching television, you probably still hear him saying LIMON in your head.
His popularity continued to grow throughout the decade. He was bigger than the Budweiser frogs.
In 1985 Ernest appeared in an uncredited cameo as part of the Jim Varney sketch movie Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam. No one saw the movie, but it did nothing to dim Jim Varney’s rising star.
With Ernest fever taking off in earnest, Ernest got his own Saturday morning sketch show called Hey Vern! It’s Ernest. The television series was a hit and also pretty good, earning Jim Varney a daytime Emmy for his performance as Ernest P. Warrell and all the other wacky characters Ernest showed up as on the show. Kids loved him, parents loved him, and everyone thought Ernest was hilarious.
Enter Disney, who saw a moneymaking opportunity. Disney executives decided to make Jim Varney and his Ernest character the centerpiece of a feature film. Ernest Goes to Camp was his first solo outing, launching one of history’s most profitable comedy franchises.
Why Ernest Goes To Camp Has Been Erased From Existence
Ernest appeared in nine new movies in 11 years, but today, the film that started it all, Ernest Goes to Camp, has been erased from history. That’s where things get messed up. Because Ernest Goes to Camp is now locked up in the Disney vault and the studio has no intention of letting it out again.
Ernest Goes to Camp has become a victim of cancel culture. Worst of all, neither Jim Varney nor the Ernest character did anything wrong. They’re canceled because of something that had nothing to do with them and that no one could have prevented. It happened because Walt Disney was fooled by a friend.
The movie is a standard 80s summer camp film, following a group of outcast kids called the Second Chancers as they attend Kamp Kikakee, a struggling summer camp run by Chief St. Cloud, a Plains Indian.
It’s the usual outcasts vs. evil industrialist plot, as Sherman Krader wants to shut down the camp and mine its resources. It’s elevated to instant classic levels thanks to Varney’s portrayal of Ernest as the camp’s maintenance man.
So where’s the problem? It’s the Native American camp counselor that Disney sees as problematic.
It’s not that the way he’s portrayed is out of touch. That’s not the issue at all, and if it were, Disney would probably release it with one of those snooty, “Aren’t you a piece of human garbage for watching this?” warning labels.
After all, Ernest Goes to Africa is on AppleTV right now.
The problem with Ernest Goes to Camp isn’t how the film depicts Native Americans, it’s who is playing Chief St. Cloud that the cancelers in chief at Disney have a problem with. Iron Eyes Cody, a veteran of Hollywood Westerns going back to the 1940s, plays camp owner Chief St. Cloud, and the controversy over him has doomed one of the most beloved family comedies of the 80s to obscurity.
Iron Eyes Cody Is To Blame For Everything
Ernest Goes to Camp was far from the first film to cast Iron Eyes Cody as a Native American. Chances are, you recognize him from the famous “Crying Indian” commercial about littering.
A close friend of Walt Disney, Iron Eyes Cody was Hollywood’s go-to for Native American roles, but in 1996, the world learned he was a fraud. His real name was Espera Oscar de Coti, and he was actually Italian.
No one knew. He spent decades living as a Native American, wearing “traditional” outfits in his daily life, and fooling everyone, including Walt Disney.
It should be noted that Espera denied these accusations until he passed away in 1999. However, his family has the evidence, a baptismal certificate with his real name on it.
Disney Now Classifies Ernest Goes To Camp As A Racist Movie
While Jim Varney’s portrayal of Ernest had diminishing returns over the years, it’s unfortunate that his breakout film, one of the ’80s surprise hit comedies, has been locked away in the Disney vault. Disney now classifies it as a racist movie, alongside other past productions like Song of the South.
Disney produced Ernest Goes to Camp under the Touchstone label, which was created by then-CEO Michael Eisner and chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg. Those are big names, and they’re all responsible.
Add them to Walt Disney’s close friendship with Iron Eyes Cody, and you have Disney now viewing Ernest’s classic comedy as a public relations nightmare. They’re hoping that if they hide it long enough, you’ll forget Ernest Goes to Camp ever existed.
Ernest Goes To Camp Is Out Of Print On Physical Media
For a short time, Ernest Goes to Camp was available on DVD and Blu-Ray, but those print runs ended over a decade ago, making it hard to find even on physical media.
Though Ernest Goes to Camp isn’t streaming now, despite the brief moment last year when it was on Hulu before a Disney executive realized what they had done and killed it, other Jim Varney classics are still available.
A Legitimate Family Comedy Classic
Of all Varney’s movies, Ernest Goes to Camp is a legitimate family comedy classic. Most would probably argue that his second movie, Ernest Goes to Jail, is even funnier and the best of the series.
But it’s not as heartfelt as Ernest Goes to Camp, the movie in which Jim Varney seemed to be trying to say something a little more important to all the kids who might be watching: a message about what it means to be different and be yourself.
In the 80s, nerds weren’t cool. Geeks weren’t celebrated. While Ernest P. Warrell isn’t a nerd exactly (though he is a genius inventor), he is an extremely unusual weirdo. By today’s standards, we’d probably consider him Autistic. That was not something people saw on screen in the 80s and 90s.
The Ernest character was one of the only socially inept weirdos who people actually thought was cool. For awkward weirdos getting beat up in high school, Ernest Goes to Camp was a touchstone. It was one of the first times they saw someone on screen saying, “Hey, it’s Okay to be a little different.” Just be yourself, even if it hurts.
Ernest Goes To Jail is still available to watch pretty much anywhere, and that’s great because it’s great. But Ernest Goes to Camp is being erased from history. That’s a shame, because in its own way, the movie was important, and it could be important again.
Modern Hollywood has largely given up on family movies. That means we’ll never get another franchise like Ernest’s. Jim Varney’s character was a one-of-a-kind, and Varney had the talent and comedic genius to make him a hit.
Others have attempted to duplicate Ernest’s oddball charm, but no one else has come close to capturing it. Iron Eyes Cody or not, Ernest Goes To Camp is a movie that deserves to be seen. Disney’s decision to erase it is a travesty.
Know what I mean, Vern?
