Midway through the film, two Siamese cats called "Si" and "Am" cause chaos in the living room, ultimately framing Lady for their destruction. Not only are the names of the characters offensive and reductive, but the animation design itself leans into ethnic stereotypes, displaying buck teeth and slanted eyes. During this scene, the duo also sings "The Siamese Cat song," which is an exaggerated and racist parody that heavily relies on accented, broken English. Tellingly, "Lady and the Tramp" debuted two years after the Korean War, during which anti-Asian stereotypes and propaganda ran rampant (via Time).
As a writer for Mic articulated, "Similar stereotypes were used to reinforce fear of the so-called yellow peril in the late 19th century. Specifically, the notion that sneaky East Asians posed a mortal danger to the rest of the world led to strict fierce anti-immigration policies to keep them out of the United States."
The introduction of the two cats arguably deploys the same kind of East Asian xenophobia, emphasizing a storyline that positions the characters as villainous antagonists of the dainty and refined Lady.
Along with receiving an advisory warning for its offensive content, "Lady and the Tramp" also underwent a narrative reworking in the 2019 adaptation. Notably, the scene with the two Siamese cats was removed (via Yahoo). Instead, singer Janelle Monáe collaborated with the production team to create a new canine character as well as a jazzy musical number (via Slate). Clearly, this was the right choice.
