As Twitchy reported over the weekend, anti-critical race theory crusader Christopher Rufo dropped some documents from a Walt Disney Corporation initiative called “Reimagine Tomorrow.” The program was described as “Allyship for Race Consciousness” and included a white privilege checklist, with checkboxes for white, male, heterosexual, and so on.
Participants were told they must “pivot” from “white dominant culture” — which can be identified by things like competition, individualism, and timeliness — to “something different.”
The story caught fire, and now the Walt Disney Corporation has issued a statement saying the internal documents were “being deliberately distorted as reflective of company policy,” and their purpose was to “allow diversity of thought.”
The funniest part is that Disney then lists films it says demonstrate its “long history of inclusivity” reaching all the way back to “Moana,” “Coco,” “Black Panther,” “Soul,” and “Raya and the Last Dragon.” As we mentioned earlier, it took until 2009 for Disney to introduce a black princess.
Disney recommends that employees read a how-to guide called “75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice.” The article tells readers to “defund the police,” “participate in reparations,” “decolonize your bookshelf,” and “find and join a local ‘white space.’” pic.twitter.com/RJLCTK5ypv
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) May 8, 2021
Disney has released a statement claiming that my reporting "distorted" their antiracism program. This is false. I published direct quotations, contextual screenshots, and the original source documents in their entirety.
Disney is distorting the truth—and I won't stand for it. pic.twitter.com/w7eEcKyduq
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) May 10, 2021
Disney claims to value "inclusivity," but the company has:
-Used slave and child labor in poor countries
-Filmed 'Mulan' near Uighur concentration camps
-Censored content for the CCP
-Shrinked a black actor in Chinese promotional materialsThe Magic Kingdom is a house of lies.
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) May 10, 2021
I challenge Disney's executive team to walk the walk: they should complete the "white privilege" checklist they provided to employees and share the results publicly.
Otherwise, they're fake antiracists, using buzzwords to deflect attention from their moral transgressions. pic.twitter.com/WTw7VoJtTy
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) May 10, 2021
Read the truth—including the full original source documents—here: https://t.co/trZwqqNP8C
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) May 10, 2021
When you shoot at the king….you know the rest. Keep up the good fight. pic.twitter.com/yfZhWVfB4p
— Scout’s Papa (@JamesRagano) May 10, 2021
you know they’re getting backlash when they put this howler in the release: “that training was to allow diversity of thought…” 😂 😂 😂
— Perspicuous (@chaos_sonata) May 10, 2021
"their purpose was to allow diversity of thought."
Umm, that's a wild claim.
— Erika Sanzi (@esanzi) May 10, 2021
Lol they're using their movie products as shields.
— Ꮗιʅʅ (@OliWilly) May 10, 2021
"We're soo diverse, trust us! See, we even produced Black Panther!" pic.twitter.com/RMWBX5PqSn
— Ꮗιʅʅ (@OliWilly) May 10, 2021
Translation: “You caught us! But our lawyers told us that corporate strategy doesn’t have to intersect with company policy. So we just made the trainings optional!”
— Sam Ismail (@samismx) May 10, 2021
If they're not reflective of company policy, why are they shown in company training events? That seems a total dodge. Either stand behind the pedagogy or say it was an error; they're trying to have it both ways.
— stevemur (@stevemur) May 10, 2021
And why would they allow their logo to be attached to these documents and presentation materials?
Disney is probably THE most stringent company with respect to the use of their logo, and what it means to use it. pic.twitter.com/32tCQKGpOH
— stevemur (@stevemur) May 10, 2021
Full disclosure: This editor in a previous gig worked on some training documents for Disney, and they are very protective of their brand.
There's a quote from George Will along the lines of: "there is a certain type of liberal who wants diversity in everything EXCEPT diversity of thought."
This is very much the case with Disney's response above, and the so-called "diversity trainings" being pushed for nowadays.
— JonahtheMann (@jonah_da_mann) May 10, 2021
Their second paragraph makes a mockery of their inclusivity statement: too difficult to admit early Disney films—firmly rooted in European culture—were the basis of their success. It seems the only films up for discussion focus on POCs exclusively.
— Tyler (Seine/Euer Majestät) (@TMAmfortas) May 10, 2021
Disney's statement is the same as a person saying "I have black friends"
— Wags1236 (@wags1236) May 10, 2021
Wow they actually name dropped the few "diverse" movies they made recently, like the "I have a black friend" of the film industry. Nobody was denying their virtue signaling skills, that's precisely what hes calling out.
— Saul Wrighte (@SaulWrighte) May 10, 2021
— Dr. Ali Beralis, Cyberdolphin (@liberalis_ars) May 10, 2021
And as we mentioned last time, Disney has yanked “Dumbo,” “Peter Pan,” and “The Aristocats” from Disney+ over racial stereotypes.
One sentence says the philosophies from the documents aren’t “reflective of company policy”, while the remainder of the statement essentially says they are.
I’d have more respect for Disney if they just owned their corporate beliefs.
— John Hornbuckle (@JohnRHornbuckle) May 10, 2021
https://twitter.com/MidwestDeplora5/status/1391802538635272199
I’ve seen it. Coca-Cola went through the same thing and backed off. @WaltDisneyCo will find out the same way if they go down this path.
— Michael Tardi (@MTARDI32) May 10, 2021
You mean Coca-Cola offering LinkedIn training encouraging employees to “try to be less white”?
Did they elaborate on what they viewed those distortions to be?
— Remy Sharpe (@Theremysharpe) May 10, 2021
Seems like Coke.
Why don't these companies want to own their corporate decision making process in a transparent way?
Why do they make denials and covers ups, if this is what they believe?
— Hugh Jasse (@Mr_Hugh_Jasse) May 10, 2021
https://twitter.com/MidwestDeplora5/status/1391802004725452812
https://twitter.com/MidwestDeplora5/status/1391801250904166401
I guess your facts 'distorted' their vision, which was to get someone really annoying and extreme to tap into the zeitgeist for woke cred.
Mind you, they should unfreeze Walt Disney and show him these documents. 😂— Liberty Owl 🦔🦉 (@Owl4Liberty) May 10, 2021
Careful, you pissed off Mr Mouse. Its all fun and games until Goofy shows up at your door with a baseball bat.
— JoDeOof (@jo_oof) May 10, 2021
Related:
Disney documents encourage employees to complete a ‘white privilege checklist,’ work through feelings of guilt and shame https://t.co/HCW55CjFnR
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 8, 2021
Join the conversation as a VIP Member