Whether it be censoring their own content under the guise of promoting diversity, announcing partnerships with outspoken and controversial Black Lives Matter activists, or firing conservative figures for expressing “problematic” opinions, it’s become clear in recent years that Disney has “gone woke.”
Here is a timeline of their descent into full-blown radical Leftism.
March 2017
After the live-action version of Beauty and the Beast launched with several woke additions — such as the inclusion of a transgender character and making LeFou (Gaston’s sidekick) gay — Walt Disney Company reportedly pulled its release of the movie in Malaysia.
“It’s not easy being a woke multi-national mass-media and entertainment conglomerate. Just ask the Walt Disney Company, which has apparently pulled its release of Beauty and the Beast in Malaysia after film censors there demanded the studio cut what director Bill Condon called an ‘exclusively gay moment’ from the film,” wrote Vanity Fair.
“Walt Disney has shelved the release of its new movie ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in mainly Muslim Malaysia, even though film censors said Tuesday it had been approved with a minor cut involving a ‘gay moment,’” added the Associated Press.
March 2019
In late March, “CEO of the Walt Disney Co. Bob Iger signaled a pull-out in Georgia over the state’s new ‘heartbeat’ legislation, which bans abortion after unborn babies’ heartbeats are detected (around six-weeks gestation).”
“I rather doubt we will,” Iger told Reuters when asked about future production in Georgia.
“I think many people who work for us will not want to work there, and we will have to heed their wishes in that regard. Right now we are watching it very carefully,” the CEO continued.
“I don’t see how it’s practical for us to continue to shoot there” if the law goes into effect, Iger added.
November 2019
Disney announced that they would be adding warnings to their content regarding the use of “racist stereotypes.”
The Daily Telegraph reported in November 2019 that “The films, mostly from the Forties and Fifties, now come with a warning about offensive tropes on the US company’s new streaming service Disney Plus, which launched on Tuesday.”
In addition to adding disclaimers, Disney has also decided not to release “Song of the South, a movie set in Georgia after the American Civil War,” which has been “criticized for its depictions of black people.”
The disclaimer, which cannot be skipped, reads as follows:
This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together. Disney is committed to creating stories with inspirational and aspirational themes that reflect the rich diversity of the human experience around the globe.
July 2020
Walt Disney Corporation announced that they had partnered with Colin Kaepernick, and as part of the overall deal would “produce a series about the life” of the football player and activist.
“Disney will get first crack at new projects from Kaepernick’s Ra Vision Media, which produces work that explores race and social injustice. That will begin with the project about Kaepernick’s own life, that of a star athlete turned civil-rights activist,” reported Bloomberg.
“Disney hails the deal as part of a broader effort to develop stories from the perspective of Black and Brown communities. Kaepernick’s stance has turned him into a face of the civil-rights movement — and without an NFL career to pursue — he is using his platform to tell stories,” Bloomberg added.
According to another Bloomberg report, Disney will be working with Jemele Hill — who was previously suspended by Disney subsidiary ESPN — to produce the series.
July 2020
ABC, which is owned by Disney, announced that they would be rebooting “The Wonder Years,” “a beloved coming-of-age sitcom about the U.S. middle class,” but telling the story of a black family in Alabama.
“ABC has only committed to produce a pilot of the show, which means it may never get on the air. But ABC and its owner Walt Disney Co. have made telling more Black stories a priority following the killing of George Floyd, which brought a wave of protests about racial injustice,” reported Bloomberg.
September 2020
Disney came under fire from critics after the live-action version of “Mulan” was filmed in China’s Xinjiang province, where over one million people — mostly Uighur Muslims — are reportedly being forcibly detained in so-called “re-education camps.”
“The film was already the target of a boycott after its lead actress backed a crackdown on Hong Kong protesters,” noted the BBC.
Critics even pointed out that Disney thanks a number of government entities in Xinjiang during the movie’s credits, “including the public security bureau in the city of Turpan and the ‘publicity department of CPC Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomy Region Committee.’”
Mulan specifically thank the publicity department of CPC Xinjiang uyghur autonomous region committee in the credits.
You know, the place where the cultural genocide is happening.
They filmed extensively in Xinjiang, which the subtitles call “Northwest China”#BoycottMulan pic.twitter.com/mba3oMYDvV
— Jeannette Ng 吳志麗 (@jeannette_ng) September 7, 2020
September 2020
ABC — which is owned by the Disney Corporation — unveiled an “ambitious” set of inclusion standards.
“ABC is putting in place a detailed new set of inclusion standards to ensure the network’s programming and sets accurately reflects society,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Overseen by exec vp development and content strategy Simran Sethi, who has been working on the guidelines for the past year alongside ABC entertainment president Karey Burke, the standards aim to increase inclusion of underrepresented groups onscreen, in writing and directing jobs, and below the line,” the report added.
October 2020
Disney launched their “Stories Matter” campaign, noting that, “Stories shape how we see ourselves and everyone around us. So as storytellers, we have the power and responsibility to not only uplift and inspire, but also consciously, purposefully and relentlessly champion the spectrum of voices and perspectives in our world.”
“Because happily ever after doesn’t just happen. It takes effort. Effort we are making,” the Stories Matter page proclaims.
“As part of our ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, we are in the process of reviewing our library and adding advisories to content that includes negative depictions or mistreatment of people or cultures. Rather than removing this content, we see an opportunity to spark conversation and open dialogue on history that affects us all. We also want to acknowledge that some communities have been erased or forgotten altogether, and we’re committed to giving voice to their stories as well,” the page explains.
January 2021
Disney moved to actively censor “four of their classic films from the Disney+ accounts of children under age seven, citing what they described as the ‘negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures.’” Dumbo, Peter Pan, Swiss Family Robinson, and The Aristocats were no longer available for these users, according to The Mail on Sunday.
Additional titles were hidden from younger viewers, including Fantasia, Lady and the Tramp, and The Jungle Book.
February 2021
Gina Carano, who has since joined The Daily Wire, was fired by Disney “over a social media post that Disney-owned production company Lucasfilm said was ‘denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities.’”
“The former Disney star was cut from her role on ‘The Mandalorian’ earlier this week in a move that the mass media company had reportedly been planning for months over right-wing views Carano has expressed over social media,” reported The Daily Wire.
Disney officially cut ties with Carano over an image the actress posted to her Instagram depicting a Jewish woman running from Nazi guards with the caption:
Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…even by children.
“Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”
“As Carano has been an outspoken supporter of former president Donald Trump and has often complained about backlash against her conservative opinions, many critics took the post as her equating Republicans with Jews in Nazi Germany,” The Washington Post reported. “The post has since been deleted, but not before fans captured the moment and shared it widely. Critics called for the actress to be fired for her online rhetoric under the hashtag #FireGinaCarano, which trended on Twitter on Wednesday.”
March 2021
As explained by The Daily Wire, Disney “reportedly shelved the actress and former MMA fighter’s appearance on Bear Grylls reality show, which appears on the Disney-owned National Geographic, or ‘NatGeo’ network.”
April 2021
Walt Disney Television’s chairman of entertainment Dana Walden admitted in April that ABC — which is owned by Disney — passed on several “well-written scripts” because they lacked “diversity.”
“Walden even bragged about passing on a script because it centered around a white family, only adding racial diversity through neighbors and other supporting characters,” reported The Daily Wire.
“I will tell you for the first time we received some incredibly well-written scripts that did not satisfy our standards in terms of inclusion, and we passed on them,” Walden told Women in Focus panel moderator Janice Min.
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.