The planned full day walkout at Disney today over the company’s fumbled response to Florida’s discrimatory “Don’t Say Gay” bill has seen an outpouring of support for the LGBTQ+ community from some leading divisions in the House of Mouse’s empire
Hulu, ESPN, Disney World and FX, among others, all took to social media Tuesday morning to show they “fearlessly” support our LGBTQIA+ colleagues, their families and communities,” as the John Landgraf-led cabler put it in a tweet.
Check out the seemingly coordinated posts from the Disney divisions here:
— FX Networks (@FXNetworks) March 22, 2022
ESPN believes in inclusivity and denounces legislation and actions across the United States that infringe on any human rights. We stand with our LGBTQIA+ colleagues, friends, families, and fans.
— ESPN (@espn) March 22, 2022
We stand with our LGBTQIA+ colleagues, storytellers, families, friends, and fans who are targeted by laws that marginalize and diminish their identities and lives. We remain committed to telling inclusive stories that unite us and celebrate the diverse LGBTQIA+ community.
— Hulu (@hulu) March 22, 2022
According to sources on the Burbank lot, there aren’t any protesters gathering outside the Alameda Ave. gate yet; just some cameraman and other media. Of course, realize that most of Disney’s staffers are still working from home, through production still continues on the lot.
On the other side of of the country, there do not seem to be any protestors outside DisneyWorld’s gates in Orlando either at this point. No word yet on what the situation is like at DisneyLand in Anaheim. There has been no official statement from Disney HQ on the walkout.
While we hear that some employees worry about retaliation if they do make a public stance on the streets, a social media blast by the walkout organizers is still set for 11 AM PT today. Since March 15, some staffers employees have been walking out each day from 3 to 3:15 PM.
In that vein, as Sunshine State Gov Ron DeSantis has taken now to openly mocking CEO Bob Chapek and the “woke” Disney, the Hulu, FX, and ESPN tweets and Disneyworld IG post today follow those of ex-CEO Bob Iger in late February and Marvel Studios last week, who denounced any legislation that infringes on basic human rights of the LGTQIA+ community. While Lucasfilm Boss Kathleen Kennedy didn’t ding the scrambling Chapek, at the PGA awards where she was honored on Saturday, she did cite the impact of diverse, female and LGBTQ artists in the motion industry.
Kennedy said, “As women, artists of color, LGBTQ and differently labeled artists and producers, who have fought for and won a place at the table, propelling our community toward more inclusive, diverse, richer, more sophisticated and nuanced sense of responsibilities for social, racial and economic justice.”
Yesterday, Disney hit the pause button on it’s big wig retreat set for next week in yet another response to the ongoing crisis.
This latest retreat, pun intended, comes after a self-described “worst week” at the House of Mouse that finally led to a “sorry” from Chapek after initially refuting the worth of corporate statements on political events and legislation.
As today reveals, that sorry was sadly too little, too late for many.
In fact, on March 9, the Human Rights Campaign, America’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil rights organization, announced it will not accept any more funding from Disney without a greater commitment to LGBTQ+ rights.
Poised to be signed by potential 2024 Presidential candidate DeSantis the “Don’t Say Gay” bill that effectively bans virtually all discussion or teaching about the LGBTQ+ community and “sexual orientation or gender identity” in the state’s public school system from kindergarten to the 3rd Grade.
