A Disney executive in charge of content has promised at a company-wide meeting that at least half of the characters in its productions will be LGBT or from racial minorities by the end of the year. MailOnline has more.
General Entertainment President Karey Burke said during a company-wide Zoom call that Disney must do more to be more inclusive, as she vowed that 50% of characters and content would be from underrepresented groups.
Meanwhile, Disney’s diversity and inclusion chief Vivian Ware said that they no longer address theme park visitors as “ladies and gentleman, boys and girls” but instead as “dreamers” and “friends”.
Burke choked up during Monday, saying the issue hit close to home because of her children.
“I’m here as the mother of two queer children, actually, one transgender child and one pansexual child, and also as a leader,” she said.
During the same all-hands meeting, television animation executive producer Latoya Raveneau gushed about Disney’s inclusivity and boasted about “adding queerness” to shows and productions.
“Our leadership over there has been so welcoming to my not-so-secret gay agenda,” she said. “Wherever I could I was adding queerness. No one would stop me and no one was trying to stop me.”
Videos from the meeting were leaked to conservative journalist Christopher Rufo of the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal, who first reported them on Twitter.
The Mickey Mouse company has been roiled by protests, counter-protests and walkouts after Florida Gov. Ronald DeSantis signed the so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill into law. The legislation bans teaching kids lessons on sexuality, gender identity and sexual orientation “in a manner that is not age appropriate.”
Disney employees walked out of the company headquarters last week to protest the slow response to the Florida law. Parents hit the company from the other side for what they said was pandering to liberal politics…
The company has launched a campaign called “Reimagine Tomorrow” with the goal to represent more minority groups. “By 2022, 50% of regular and recurring characters across Disney General Entertainment scripted content will come from underrepresented groups,” according to the “Reimagine” promotional material.
Disney has reportedly reinstated a gay kiss in its upcoming Toy Story spinoff Lightyear amid the criticism. Hawthorne (pictured above), a character in the film, has a relationship with another female character.
Will Disney be the latest self-inflicted victim of go woke, go broke? Can’t see pansexuality and ‘queerness’ taking off as children’s and family entertainment somehow…
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