Is Disney Cutting DEI Programs or Just Hiding Them?

Entertainment

Is Disney scrapping its DEI policies? Maybe, maybe not, but it certainly wants people to think it is. In their 2024 SEC filing – as reported by The New York Post – Disney has left out two of its big DEI programs, “Reimagine Tomorrow” and “The Disney Look,” both of which were featured in the company’s 2023 SEC filing. “Reimagine Tomorrow” was created for, as quoted by the Post, “amplifying underrepresented voices” and has “some of Disney’s DE&I commitments and action.” The goal of this program was to ensure that 50% of Disney’s “regular and recurring characters” would be made up of “underrepresented groups.” You may remember that leaked video from a couple of years ago where some Disney executive named Karey Burke (currently the president of 20^th Television, the new name for 20^th Century Fox’s TV division, which ABC has been folded into) claimed her two children were “queer” – one transgender and one pansexual – and that more of Disney’s lead characters would be LGBTETC and then pretended to cry (or maybe she really was; these people are nuts). The “Reimagine Tomorrow” label was stamped on that video, as you can see below:

The video where another Disney loon touted her “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” and bragged about “wherever [she] could, adding queerness” also carried the “Reimagine Tomorrow” label:

“The Disney Look” is a series of “appearance guidelines” for Disney employees that encourage “authentic expressions of belonging” in order to “cultivate a more inclusive environment.” This one seemed mostly benign to me at first – I don’t imagine anyone cares if someone wears some piece of ethnic or cultural attire – but then, I remembered the man dressed as a princess in Disneyland and the other man dressed as the Wicked Queen at Disney World; I wonder if that kind of thing is part of this initiative and why Disney killed it along with “Reimagine Tomorrow.” Further, the page for “Reimagine Tomorrow” has been removed from The Walt Disney Company’s official website, as well as the page for “Stories Matter,” which is behind censoring, changing, or apologizing for Disney products and attractions like the Song of the South references at the Disney Parks (including the elimination of Splash Mountain) and trigger warnings before their “problematic” movies on Disney+ that let you know you’re not supposed to like what you’re about to watch. (Not so coincidentally, those warnings are also being removed and placed in the “info” section on the streaming service; it’s still annoying, but at least it isn’t desecrating the film.)

But is Disney really calling it quits on its DEI initiatives and other woke gobbledygook? It’s too soon to tell, but it’s very possible Disney is simply trying to hide its agenda more carefully rather than abandon it. This is clearly a response to President Trump’s expunging DEI from the federal government, which has led to a bunch of major companies (Google, Meta, Intel, Pepsi, etc.) dropping their DEI programs as well. But it’s important to remember that Trump hasn’t ordered those companies to abandon DEI, nor can he (unless it comes to illegal hiring practices, in which case he doesn’t have to because they can already get sued); they’re doing it of their own accord. It could be because they see the cultural winds have shifted in the other direction and want to catch up (although I’d argue it’s more that they’re finally seeing where the cultural winds have always been – Bud Light says “Hi” on that score) or – and I particularly like this notion – that this is their excuse to do something they’ve wanted to do for some time but felt they couldn’t. There’s also an element of self-preservation: aside from those hypothetical hiring practice lawsuits, Target is currently being sued by its investors, who, they claim, were not made aware of how destructive to profits DEI is. Others, however, are, as the Post describes it, “softening” their DEI approach, and I think Disney’s actions could be their way of following suit, simply hiding their nonsense better, like moving the Disney+ disclaimers instead of just eliminating them. And the “Reimagine Tomorrow” and “Stories Matter” web pages redirect to a page called “Belong|Inclusion,” which has links to a number of programs aimed at those very principles, including hiring students from HBCUs, or Historically Black Colleges and Universities. It also mentions Disney Entertainment Television’s DEI team. This looks more like a shell game than a course correction. As those videos and Bob Iger’s actions (which often run counter to his words) make clear, Disney is being run by activists, and while they love being sneaky, they won’t go quietly into the night.

Let us know what you think of these Disney DEI programs and the company’s intentions in the comments!

***

If you want to know what kind of political leanings movies have or just talk about cinema, check out the movie ratings community Criticless.

Get Your Geeks + Gamers merch here!