We’ll take a slow learner over one who never learns, which is why we are happy to report that Disney continues to move away from its offensive fare. Are they family-friendly again? Not quite. But they are moving in the right direction.
“Win or Lose” is a forthcoming Pixar animated miniseries set to premiere on Disney+ in February of next year. Disney has reworked a story arc featuring a “transgender” youth that plays on a co-ed softball team. Initially the miniseries was set to explore this character’s backstory and perspective, like it does with several other characters. However, Disney ultimately decided that this controversial topic should be omitted from the show.
A spokesperson for Disney said, “When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline.” Considering that Disney became the epitome of woke corporate politics by leading the charge against Florida’s “Parental Bill of Rights” in 2022, this is a massive reversal of the entertainment giant’s position.
This pivot reflects the thinking coming from the top.
During a Q&A with Disney shareholders in April of 2024, Disney CEO Bob Iger stated he believed it was Disney’s job to “entertain, first and foremost.” He went on to say, “I’ve always believed that we have a responsibility to do good in the world, but we know our job is not to advance any kind of agenda.” This builds on previous comments Iger made since retaking the helm of Disney in 2023.
The change in direction is evident in other Disney fare.
“Inside Out 2” premiered in theaters in June and quickly became the top-grossing animated film of all time, raking in a total of $1.7 billion globally. A huge part of this success stemmed from efforts undertaken by Disney executives to ensure that the Pixar film had no LGBT content. Throughout its production, executives went to great lengths to portray the characters as normal. Many scenes were reworked to remove any suggestions that any characters were LGBT.
In August, Disney announced “The Acolyte” would be cancelled after streaming for a single season on Disney+. Even with the media loudly cheering on the series and bashing anyone complaining about its weak characters or poor writing, it was largely panned by fans for sacrificing quality storytelling in favor of promoting woke content. The series leaned heavily into LGBT themes and also saw the debut of Disney’s first openly “transgender” actor Abigail Thorn (a man pretending to be a woman) in a supporting role.
“Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” is an animated series that airs on Disney+.
One episode revolved around Brooklyn, the captain of the girls volleyball team. He is a male who falsely claims to be a female. When a rival coach finds out that Brooklyn played on the boys soccer team, the coach moves to have Brooklyn disqualified. The showrunners present this coach as motivated by bigotry and partially interested in giving the opposing team an unfair advantage.
As the title “Gatekeeper” suggests, it is strongly implied that anyone opposed to letting boys compete in girls sports is a bigot and concerns over fairness and safety are just a ruse by weaker teams trying to eliminate better athletes from competition.
Disney pulled the episode “Gatekeeper” featuring a transgender storyline. “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” was cancelled in October; ten more episodes are slated to air in 2025.
This turn about would not have happened without considerable pressure being applied to Disney executives.
We take pride in helping to mount that pressure. In January of 2023, we released “Walt’s Disenchanted Kingdom,” a documentary with an all-star cast that detailed Disney’s departure from a family-friendly company. Our documentary won nine awards and has been seen by millions of people around the world. It is streaming on Amazon and the DVD is available from the Catholic League.
Christmas is a time for reflection, as well as joy. It is our hope that Disney continues to reflect on the damage it has done and moves with dispatch to bring about the joy that made it so famous in the first place.
