Disney’s Problems are Not Going Away

The problems surrounding The Walt Disney Company over the last two months is a cultural battle that is not dying down. While news cycles are typified these days by day-long rage bait articles that titillate the ears of both extremes of the political divide, the scandals surrounding Disney’s engagement in politics are superseding the norm.

After Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” bill was proposed to the state legislature, a bill that outlawed classroom discussions on sex and gender identity for kids aged kindergarten through third grade, the Democrat establishment, aided by their unquestioning allies in media and Hollywood elites wasted no time in falsely framing the legislation as a “Don’t Say Gay” bill. They utilized their most reliable tactics—victimhood and identitarianism—in order to garner public support.

When Disney, the largest employer in the state of Florida, initially stayed out of the political discourse, the Democrat-run, not-at-all neutral non-profit Human Rights Campaign publicly excoriated the Mickey Mouse juggernaut for failing to speak out against the Florida legislature and Governor Ron DeSantis.

At this point a battle for the ages commenced and it has been a downhill experience for Disney ever since.

Disney’s CEO Bob Chapek attempted to atone to the rainbow gods at HRC with a $5 million donation, which was publicly refused. Journalist Christopher Rufo then exposed videos of Zoom meetings being held by higher-up executives of Disney in which they proudly proclaimed their “gay agenda” and plans to insert additional “queerness” into children’s content. On the heels of the raging battle, the Log Cabin Republicans, the largest conservative LGBT group in the nation, blasted Disney, HRC and Democrats for their plan to promote sexualized and gender identity content not only in animated kids’ content but for pushing it on kids between the ages of kindergarten and third grade in public classrooms. The Daily Wire announced a commitment to spend $100 million to start producing kid-friendly content next year.

The conservatives have built a country wide coalition that all agree on one thing: Don’t mess with children.

This situation with Disney and its desire to promote the radical woke agenda (to infinity and beyond!) is proving costly the entertainment behemoth.

Disney is likely losing subscribers with massive social media calls to cancel Disney. Their stock price has dropped. People are protesting outside their theme parks and office buildings. Whistleblowers from inside the walls of Disney have come forward to excoriate the CEO and ask him to remain neutral. A gay employee at Disney wrote perhaps the most scathing and revelatory open letter to Disney executives. CEO Bob Chapek is also losing a public war with Florida’s governor. For the first time, the leadership in the Sunshine State is threatening to repeal Disney’s ability to self-govern, as well as revoking particular licenses moving forward, an action that could cost Disney billions.

The magic is leaving the kingdom and with it the public’s trust and money.

Whether through bad luck or fate, another situation added more insult to Disney’s injury.

As if things could not get worse from a public relations perspective, a few Disney employees were arrested early this month during a sting operation on human traffickers in Florida, adding to the criticism about Disney’s values and behavior. These revelations are disturbing considering the current controversy is so deeply tied to the protection of children, a fight against their oversexualization and the doctrinal grooming that is clearly being pushed by Disney content creators and Democratic politicians.

What’s fascinating about this issue, espeically considering midterm elections in which Democrats are expected to struggle, is the Party’s seeming inability to read the room. They are doubling down on their promotion of sexualized curriculum placed in public schools under the guise of inclusion, disregarding the fact that the clear majority are against them. When polled, over 60% of people agree with Florida’s legislation.

Most recently, New Jersey Democrats have been exposed for having controversial sexual education content in their curriculum for young pupils. Other progressive states such as California have also come under fire for age-inappropriate curriculum. Disney is potentially serving as a bad omen for things to come when one considers what’s already happened in American political cultural battles over the past year.

The country saw a similar battle during the gubernatorial race in Virginia regarding Critical Race Theory. Governor Glenn Youngkin primarily ran on this issue and upset Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who became infamous for comments suggest parents don’t deserve any say in their kids’ educational content. Democrats country wide are now falling into the same trap, dragging Disney and other companies into their wokeified mess with the liberal media eager to support them. Reliable Sources and media watchdog CNN host Brian Stelter has taken multiple opportunities to paint the Florida governor and other conservatives as bigoted while completely ignoring the desire parents have to protect their kids.

These media pundits, Democrat politicians and woke companies do not seem to realize that when parents think their children are being subjected to ideologies that do not coincide with their values, they will vote in droves and become single-issue voters. Democrats thick-headedness on this issue clearly spells their demise come November.

The fact that Disney is fueling this fire is beyond parody. The historically family-friendly entertainment company has been long adored for its ability to not only tell kid stories, but to tell them in ways that captivate the mind and bring joy to the soul, forever encouraging their audience to get lost in adventure and wish upon a star. Unfortunately for Disney, they are moving beyond their roots and instead seeking to appease a radical group of LGBTQIAAP2S+ activists that demand nothing short of pure devotion to their controversial ideology.

Disney would be wise to return to their Neverland before becoming a forgotten land altogether.