Is Disney a Hypocrite?
Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek addressed Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, saying he called the state’s governor DeSantis to express “disappointment and concern” with the bill and pledged millions to charity in response to its passing.
DeSantis agreed to meet with Chapek and LGBTQ company leaders over the impact the bill could have.
He then later confirmed that the two men spoke but said the stance on the bill is not changing. The bill, which is vague, prohibits educators from even mentioning or discussing sexual orientation or gender issues with students in kindergarten through third grade.
This response from Chapek only came after harsh criticism when Disney refused to openly condemn the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
Chapek's response was that the company was “opposed to the bill from the outset,” and that they “chose not to take a public position on it because [they] thought [they] could be more effective working behind the scenes, engaging directly with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.”
However, Chapek did not seem to be telling the truth.
In a recent statement from Pixar employees to Variety, they said that their experience of trying to create content with same-sex couples was not approved by Disney executives and was always shut down.
“We at Pixar have personally witnessed beautiful stories, full of diverse characters, come back from Disney corporate reviews shaved down to crumbs of what they once were,” the letter states. “Even if creating LGBTQIA+ content was the answer to fixing the discriminatory legislation in the world, we are being barred from creating it.”
This does not look good for Disney, which already has a problematic history with the LGBTQIA+ community.