The corporate trend away from 'woke' activism may be claiming its biggest scalp yet, as Disney removed two diversity initiatives that concerned making 50% characters from 'underrepresented groups' and 'cultivat(ing) a more inclusive environment that encourages and celebrates authentic expressions of belonging among employees.'
(LifeSiteNews) – The corporate trend away from “woke” activism may be claiming its biggest scalp yet, according to entertainment giant Disney’s removal of two diversity initiatives from its U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.
The New York Post reported that the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) section of Disney’s 2024 10-K report with the SEC conspicuously omits is 2022 “Reimagine Tomorrow” program, which had promised 50% of regular and recurring characters would hail from “underrepresented groups”; and its “The Disney Look” appearance guidelines, which had been meant to “cultivate a more inclusive environment that encourages and celebrates authentic expressions of belonging among employees.”
“Reimagine Tomorrow” was first exposed in 2022 with a series of internal videos leaked in which Disney executives and creators openly declared their intentions to inculcate children with LGBT dogma via their film and television projects.
Among those revelations were executive producer Latoya Raveneau boasting of a “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” that involves “adding queerness” to children’s programming; production coordinator Allen March explaining his team has a “tracker” to ensure they create a sufficient number of “gender nonconforming characters,” “canonical trans characters,” and “canonical bisexual characters”; “diversity and inclusion” manager Vivian Ware explaining the company has purged the terms “ladies,” “gentlemen,” “boys,” and “girls” from its theme parks to create “that magical moment” for gender-nonconforming children; and more.
Whether the omission marks a genuine shift away from identity politics or merely an attempt to hide its activism from prying eyes remains to be seen. “Disney dropping (Reimagine Tomorrow) from their DEI section could mean they’re walking back their DEI investments, or it could signal they’re hiding them,” said Stefan Padfield, director of the Free Enterprise Project for the National Center for Public Policy Research. “Either they recognize that more litigation is coming, or it could be part of a vibe shift.”
If such a shift has been in the works, it did not manifest in time to prevent LGBT “representation” from cropping up in Disney’s two most recent Star Wars streaming series, “The Acolyte” and “Skeleton Crew,” both of which were considered commercial failures. In December, however, it did remove a planned transgender storyline from its upcoming Pixar animated series “Win or Lose.”
In what might also hint at a possible shift, this weekend sees the release of Disney-owned Marvel Studios’ “Captain America: Brave New World,” which follows black hero Sam Wilson taking over the patriotic mantle. Wilson’s tenure as Cap began with the 2021 streaming series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” which drew controversy for putting an identity-politics spin on a nonwhite character representing America.
Amid walking back divisive comments on the press tour about Captain America not representing America, lead actor Anthony Mackie rejected comparisons between real-life President Donald Trump and the movie’s fictional President Thaddeus Ross, stating simply that “I hope, as a country, we’re tired of all the political jousting.” “Brave New World” was the subject of reshoots, and early reviews indicate they might have been used to depoliticize the film; Screen Crush, for example, complains that its “insistence on avoiding any possible hot-button political issue or real-world resonance mean its mystery and ultimate villain can’t have any satirical bite whatsoever.”
Whatever the case turns out be, Disney has a long way to go to regaining the trust of conservative and religious families.
Once a unifying cultural institution, over the past decade especially Disney has steadily infused left-wing politics into the army of entertainment properties it owns, such as appeasing LGBT “representation” demands in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, normalizing transgenderism and same-sex unions in animation aimed at younger audiences, firing and publicly defaming conservative actress Gina Carano, selling LGBT “pride” merchandise, using properties such as Star Wars and Snow White as vehicles for feminism, and more.
While much has been made of the financial toll taken by Disney’s “woke” approach to Star Wars and Marvel not resonating with fans as well as its failed battle with Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, and public lip service by CEO Bob Iger about toning down the company’s role in the culture war, last April shareholders rejected a bid by investor Nelson Peltz and former Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter to take over the board and shift the company back to its roots. Meanwhile, a defamation suit against Disney by Carano, financed by X owner Elon Musk, remains ongoing.
