Rumor: Disney Adding Pronouns To Cast Members Name Tags? Cue Conservative Outrage

Over the past few years, The Walt Disney Company has become a punching bag for the conservative right in America. It started when former CEO Bob Chapek finally decided to speak out against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, known by its critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, after pressure from cast members. Since then, Disney has been fighting with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and conservatives have lined up behind the Republican governor.

Related: Disney is Accused of Being Woke, What Exactly Does That Mean? 

But their complaints run deeper than just Chapek’s comments. Conservatives frequently accuse Disney of having “gone woke,” an undefined term, but it has come to mean anything that they disagree with, including any LGBTQ+ representation and the replacement of traditionally white fictional characters with people of color.

Disney Studios caught the ire of conservatives when they included LGBTQ+ characters in their films Strange World (2022), Lightyear (2022), and Elemental (2023). It continued when Disney replaced Ariel in the live-action The Little Mermaid (2023) with African-American actress Halle Bailey and Snow White with Latina actress Rachel Zegler.

But now, the conservative right and the MAGA diehards have a new axe to grind with The Walt Disney Company.

Pronoun Pins

The Daily Caller reported last week that Disney was introducing a new program at EPCOT in Walt Disney World that would allow cast members to include their preferred pronouns on their name tags. According to the report, Disney is rolling out the program with the custodial staff at EPCOT but could soon allow cast members at all parks at Disney World to put their pronouns on their name tags.

At least they got the flyer right. These voluntary (for now) pins, being rolled out to janitors at the park belong in the trash can.https://t.co/zVOZasBSO0 pic.twitter.com/CaHpzH4eTt

— Haley Kennington (@ladykennington) November 14, 2023

Related: Conservative Pundits Dance on ‘Woke’ Disney’s Grave

According to the Daily Caller, a sign in the cast member area read:

Hi everyone, we are excited to introduce pronoun name tags in our area! Pronoun name tags help us understand each other more and bring a positive impact within our community!

But according to the sign that was allegedly hanging in the cast member break room, it read, “trash can pronoun name tags.” The Daily Caller said their sources for the story were cast members upset over the new initiative at Disney World.

And as soon as the story hit the internet, cue the conservative outrage. One MAGA loyalist wrote on X (formerly Twitter):

Disney World is rolling out preferred pronoun pins for employees at their Orlando theme parks. Of course @Disney they are. And of course they will expect other employees to go along with the craziness. Walt [Disney] is rolling over in his grave. #GoWokeGoBroke.

Source?

But in a strange twist to this story, Mousetrap News ran a similar story in late October. The report from Mousetrap News claimed that Disney cast members would be forced to include their pronouns, zodiac sign, blood type, and religious affiliation. The website also reported that there was similar outrage to the new program at Disney World coming from the same conservatives who were outraged by the report in the Daily Caller.

However, readers will know that Mousetrap News is one of the leading sights for Disney-related satire. On their website, it says:

We write fake stories about Disney Parks stuff. From Disney Park announcements to Disney Hotel and resort news to made-up Disney partnerships, you can be assured that anything you read here is not true, real, or accurate, but it is fun.

Whether the pronoun pin story originated with Mousetrap News is still up for debate, but when Newsweek reached out to Disney World for comment, they did not respond. We will see if this comes to fruition or is another example of conservative outrage over nothing.

We will continue to update this story at Disney Fanatic.