Disney’s name has rarely escaped the news over the past several weeks.
Magic Kingdom
From the situation with Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Bill (what critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” bill) to the act dissolving the Reedy Creek Improvement District, we’ve shared all the latest updates with you. Recently, a specific Disney program was directly called out by an activist during the signing of another bill in Florida. What has been said about Disney and what bill is at issue? We’re breaking down what you need to know here.
Back in 2021, we shared that Disney launched a new inclusivity program called “Reimagine Tomorrow.” According to Disney’s website, the program is their way of “amplifying underrepresented voices and untold stories as well as championing the importance of accurate representation in media and entertainment.”
From aspects that influence their workforce to Disney’s content, there are a number of details on the site about Disney’s intentions for each area and what they’re doing to put those intentions into action.
©Disney
But, Disney’s “Reimagine Tomorrow” employee training has since become the subject of criticism by some. According to an article in the New York Post, Christopher Rufo obtained internal documents related to the program. The New York Post said that Disney is “pushing critical race theory on employees” through this program.
The New York Post said, “Staffers are told to reject ‘equality’ for ‘equity’ and must ‘reflect’ on America’s ‘racist infrastructure’ and ‘think carefully about whether or not [their] wealth’ is derived from racism, according to the documents.”
From Reimagine Tomorrow ©Disney
Disney issued a response to some of these matters. Specifically, a Disney spokesperson told The New York Post that the internal documents are being “deliberately distorted as reflective of company policy.”
Disney said, “In fact their purpose was to allow diversity of thought and discussion on the incredibly complex and challenging issues of race and discrimination that we as a society and companies nationwide are facing. It also noted its “long history of inclusivity with stories that reflect acceptance and tolerance and celebrate people’s differences.”
The New York Post later shared that webpages that previously featured some of the training documents had been deleted.
©Disney
Now a bill has been signed into law in Florida that addresses critical race theory and Disney has been called out by name by one activist.
According to WESH 2 News, the “Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act” (also termed the Stop WOKE Act)Â was signed by Governor DeSantis on Friday (on the same day as the signing of the act that will dissolve Disney World’s Reedy Creek Improvement District — the special district that for over 50 years has essentially let Disney act as their own county). The law had previously passed both the House and Senate in Florida.
According to TIME, the Stop WOKE Act “prohibits workplace training or school instruction that teaches that individuals are ‘inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously’; that people are privileged or oppressed based on race, gender, or national origin; or that a person ‘bears personal responsibility for and must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress’ over actions committed in the past by members of the same race, gender, or national origin. The law says such trainings or lessons amount to discrimination.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ©Deadline
TIME further notes that it “prohibits lessons or trainings in schools and workplaces that teach that individuals ‘should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment to achieve diversity, equity, or inclusion,’ an apparent reference to affirmative action policies, which traditionally benefit Black and Latino students or employees in an effort to offset centuries of racial discrimination. They may also not advance the idea that concepts like merit or racial colorblindness ‘were created by members of a particular race, color, sex, or national origin to oppress members of another race, color, sex, or national origin.'”
WESH 2 News shares that Governor Ron DeSantis said his goal was to “block activism like critical race theory from classrooms and workplaces.”
WESH 2 News notes that The Associated Press defines critical race theory as “a way of thinking about America’s history through the lens of racism. Scholars developed it during the 1970s and 1980s in response to what they viewed as a lack of racial progress following the civil rights legislation of the 1960s. It centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation’s institutions and that they function to maintain the dominance of white people in society.”
©ABC
During the signing, Governor DeSantis invited Chris Rufo to speak. The Washington Post notes that Chris Rufo is a “right-wing activist.” During the signing, Rufo ended his speech by directing comments at Disney and their Reimagine Tomorrow diversity training program.
Specifically, Rufo said: “This is a direct message to the CEO of Disney, Bob Chapek. This program called Reimagine Tomorrow is not only morally wrong, it is now illegal in the state of Florida…And so we’re going to give you the weekend to make some adjustments to immediately abolish this program, because on Monday, if this is still part of Disney’s human resources program, there will be consequences.”
Note, however, that the Stop WOKE Act will not actually go into effect in Florida until July 1st. (ABC Action News)
©TheFloridaChannel.org
According to TIME, the law has been criticized by some civil rights groups and free-speech advocates. The interim director of the ACLU of Florida (Amy Turkel) said “This dangerous law is part of a nationwide trend to whitewash history and chill free speech in classrooms and workplaces.”
This isn’t the first time Disney’s name has been brought up in relation to the Bill. TIME shares that Florida state representative Bryan Avila (who sponsored the Stop WOKE Act) called out Disney during debate on the bill. He reportedly “criticized the company’s diversity training, saying it would run afoul of the new law.”
EPCOT
We’ll continue to look for more details on this situation and let you know what we find.
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to be honest I don’t understand why they’re going after this I really don’t know enough on it to say I could speak on that subject but what aggravates me with Disneyland or the Disney company to be exact is them going after Florida law it’s sad that they took a stance on a bill that they called the don’t say gay bill what’s really didn’t even mean that I love Disneyland I have a room dedicated to Disneyland it’s one of my favorite places to go once a year and right now I’m boycotting them and I truly do love what Disney has done in the past but the direction the company’s taking right now is not in the best interest for parents I will say this Disney just needs to focus on being Disney they need to get back to Walt Disney’s dreams of what it meant to be a good company and stop getting political cuz that’s what’s destroying me I don’t want to go to a place where it’s all about politics we can’t have this ride because it doesn’t include this race we can’t have this in a scene because it’s offensive who gives a crap just be Disney be a company that makes you feel like you went into a magic place left all the worries of tomorrow and today out the door and enjoy just being a kid.
You can’t stay out of politics when politics directly attacks you, your family or your employee base.
Its fun to see all these people say they are going to stop going to Disney over this when Disney already knows its because of paycheck issues.
It’s not magical – they kept the magic going during a pandemic. Mobile order wasn’t a way to save them money it was a way to keep their employees safe.
Disney got 90% of its employees vaccinated before big government involved itself in a private business. We didn’t see Disney employees quitting btw. We didn’t see anti-vaxxers stop coming to Disney.
Keep the boycotts up – more swag and space for me and my family.
BTW lots of comments doens’t mean you are in the majority, it means you have a lot of disposable time to post a lot.
Intelligence and education have always been the enemy of politicians. One even boasted “I love the un-educated”.
I agree completely, Scott Toro!
The consequences of not acknowledging Diversity and talking about it and how a company will deal with it is far more dangerous than discussing issues. This man has a right to think whatever he wants to. Disney employees come from all over the world, places with very different cultures. We are a country that was/is made up of many different cultures and views. That’s what we used take pride in. I don’t believe that any one political party is better than the other (thus I am unaffiliated). If you choose not to give your money to a company because you disagree with their p[olicies and beliefs, don’t do business with them. That’s your right….but don’t expect everyone to agree with your view. And if you think Disney (including Mr. Disney himself) hasn’t been involved in giving “their” opinion in political areas before…do some homework (Check out “Blacklist of Sen. joe McCarthy, et.al for one). Entertainment is just that, all forms, all kinds are not for everyone and it’s your choice to partake or not. Learning about other people’s situations, ideas and ideas leads to understanding of what we, as humans, face. We all share a planet, we’re not all the same, the more we can understand each other…the better human beings we can be. That’s what I get from Diversity and appreciate the opportunity to learn even if I don’t always like or agree with what I hear.
People from all walks of life use to enjoy the way Disney united all of us through entertainment. We could escape the world for a little while. No matter your race, sex or religion who did not smile riding on “the pirates of the caribbean”? Now they feel they must lecture us on personal beliefs, all while charging us five bucks for a coke. Do not preach to me, I will not preach to you. Let us all just enjoy.
If someone is this afraid of equality and diversity- I’d rather not be in the park with them anyway. These kinds of conversations are only a problem for you if you are part of the problem. I can’t with these people anymore.
I have one more trip scheduled and it will probably be my last if Disney doesn’t drop the political garbage. Their actions and policies are only causing division and angst among their guests, which as is evident by the comments on this story, probably half are for and half are against.
I and one brother are the only people I know who still do Disney. Everyone else has fled because they want nothing to do with the politics and/or the rising costs to just be there.
When I think of Disney now it’s like sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner with your out there cousin who won’t shut up about whatever cause they’ve taken up. Nobody wants to hear it and it makes an otherwise happy tradition a miserable experience.
Get back to the business of entertainment and let people be who they are. Recognize that not everyone will agree with you and that’s okay. It’s when you try to force those who disagree through political activism and shaming of peoples values that we have a problem. And that goes for whatever side of the argument you’re on.
So Disney, if we can’t agree to disagree, if you are going to insist on attacking my values as an individual when all I wanted to do was sit down to a nice dinner, then I would rather stay home and save myself the grief.
Disney has always taken political sides. They have a lobbying arm, that is taking a political side. They do it on taxes and labor issues which aren’t always on the liberal side. But you never looked that up because?
Lots of companies do the same and you can look them up and then decide if you can’t shop at Walmart or Chevron.
Disney took a more public stance on being inclusive. When you say you don’t like this you are saying personhood doesn’t matter to some. That isn’t you saying you don’t like politics that’s you saying you don’t share in others humanity.
Disney and their employees have the right to use their own forum to state an opinion. DeSantis should have just let that go and do what he was going to anyway. He’s the one who put Disney in the position of having to defend an opinion. If he was bound and determined to hurt Disney, then their opinion couldn’t stop it.
We don’t want Disney or teachers or biased laws telling people that they are bad or guilty or wrong of being a person due to their skin color or background. That is ludicrous in America, the country built on FREEDOM FOR ALL.
We’ve been infiltrated by people who want to push evil thinking down our throats. Our babies are not born racist and they certainly are not animals. Our days of segregation are over, as we have advanced in the human race to promote intelligence and unity. The few people who do not agree, and want to hold onto racism and hate in their hearts, are allowed to live wherever they want. We just ask that you too abide by our laws and not to harm another person’s right to live peacefully and advance their life as they see fit. We call this DO NO HARM TO ANOTHER PERSON. This is also known as THE GOLDEN RULE.