The Disney Magic Is Gone
Walt Disney Company at 100; Disney World at 50
George Noga July 16, 2023
This year is the centennial of the Walt Disney Company and the semicentennial of Walt Disney World and all decidedly is not magical in the mouse house. Micky Mouse has become hyperwoke leading many customers to smell a rat. This is not your father’s Disney or not even your big brother’s Disney.
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Parental Rights in Education Act (PREA)
Disney’s wokeness became a national issue only when the company took a very public and unnecessary stand against the PREA, about which Disney advanced a false narrative and called it the Don’t Say Gay bill. The PREA simply bans age inappropriate sexual content from grades K through 3 and enjoys the support of 80% of Floridians. However, Disney’s slouch into wokeness began long before the PREA; to wit:
- Disney forced employees into a CRT training program that denounced America as racist; white employees had to prepare a white privilege checklist.
- They inserted a gay agenda into programming for young kids.
- They tracked programming to make sure it included enough transgender, queer, non-binary and asexual characters. Fifty percent had to come from these groups.
- Disney abolished use of terms such as ladies and gentlemen and boys and girls.
- They cancelled or transformed Jungle Cruise because of Trader Sam; they changed Splash Mountain because it used Song of the South; and they made changes to Pirates of the Caribbean for political correctness.
- Cast members now may wear exposed political symbols.
- Disney employees have been arrested for child porn and even child rape. In at least a few cases, Disney was complicit in helping offenders evade arrest.
- Disney-owned ESPN fires any employee who does not strictly adhere to its woke agenda and supports biological men (trans women) competing in girls’ sports.
- Disney makes edgy movies like Turning Red that are steeped in controversy.
They no longer are purveyors of content celebrating the innocence of childhood; instead, they are grooming children for a highly sexualized world.
- Virtually every page of its SEC reports is laced with references to ESG issues.
- The company is hypocritical. It continues to do business with China but refuses to denounce, or even to acknowledge, that it is a totalitarian, oppressive regime. They attack Floridians but won’t criticise the Chinese Communist Party.
The Price of Wokeness
It is hard to fathom Disney’s self-destruction. Why would any business intentionally stake so much on something so innocuous, not to mention popular, as the PREA? Why would any company intentionally go out of its way to alienate 50% or more of its customers? Why would any business intentionally choose to be on the losing side of an issue that the vast majority of families, of all political persuasions, support? Why would any company intentionally devalue the iconic characters loved by generations of children and families over the past one hundred years? Why would any sane business endanger its copyright (valued at billions of dollars) on Mickey Mouse?
The Walt Disney Company has paid, and continues to pay, a staggering price for its woke agenda. Disney stock has nosedived from $197 per share in 2021 to $88 on July 6, 2023 (when this is being written) – a drop of $109 per share or 55%. Its market capitalization has plummeted from over $350 billion to $161 billion – a stunning loss of nearly $200 billion to its shareholders. The Florida legislature has revoked Disney’s special taxing district and will hike its taxes and begin safety inspections.
But the worst is yet to come. Up to now, Congress has given Disney extensions of its copyright to Mickey Mouse and other characters. However, after 95 years the copyright extension for Steamboat Willey (Mickey Mouse) is set to expire next year. Many members of Congress are balking at granting a further extension. If Congress fails to act, Mickey Mouse soon could be in the public domain.
The Disney spell is broken and the magic is gone; there will be no fairy tale ending. Wokeness destroyed a once admired and iconic American company. The downfall of Disney is destined to be a case study in business schools for decades to come.
© 2023 George Noga
More Liberty – Less Government, Post Office Box 916381
Longwood, FL 32791-6381, Email: mllg@cfl.rr.com