Those lyrics aren’t in the piece nor are they the original lyrics of to the tune. I can say with confidence most popular tunes of the 20th C have been sung with bigoted lyrics in various context. You only have to think to football matches.

The more interesting angle is minstrel vibes that I get watching it.

The piece does have history. When "zip coon" was written, "coon" was used to describe Whigs (american politicians, ergo white men). It wasn't a slur for another decade or two.

But then that overt racist version? It came out in 1916, and Columbia continued promoting the song until 1925 -- three years before Steamboat Willy came out. Those "minstrel vibes" aren't just vibes. Minstrel shows were big money at that time in history, and the use of Turkey in the Straw is part and parcel. What lyrics were the audience at the time most familiar with? That seems much more relevant than the original lyrics.

Whether or not something is considered racist is not dependent on where it came from. It's solely dependent on if those in power feel like it is racist. Remember the Pepe the frog meme? Pepe was a meme that got used by the alt right and now it's a "symbol of hate".

For the record I disagree with the sentiment but those are the rules.

There's an element of truth here. Part of the reason racial humor was so popular the first half of the twentieth century was because American leadership encouraged that zeitgeist. Granted, the "Censored 11" cartoons weren't direct propaganda (although some similar cartoons certainly were) -- but they and their audience participated in the cultural effect that is the desired extension of all propaganda campaigns. For example, the minstrel show wasn't by any means art or intellectual, yet its depictions were an extension of the claims about Africans by intellectuals at Southern universities, who in turn were currying to a leadership that was fully committed to keeping in subjection the "dangerous" African-American population.

No, those aren't the rules, that's a dead strawhorse you're beating.

It is absolutely the perception of racism that matters. Nothing more. Racism has two meanings, one objective and one subjective.

You have made your post-truth viewpoint clear.

Don't try to change history, learn from it.

That's why it's important to stop the censorship of old media that doesn't fit modern standards.

But none of that is in the video, so I guess that answers your question.

Why would a tune matter? Are there lyrics in it? Or is this some sort of "evil by association"/law of contagion thing?

why did you censor "watermelon"? xD