On Wednesday, August 10, The Walt Disney Company held its webcast to discuss its third-quarter earnings, and the tone was much different than just three months ago.
While the same meeting held for the second quarter was filled with talk regarding their “woke” position and push for “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” CEO Bob Chapek made no mention of any of it when going over the third quarter numbers.
“We had an excellent quarter, with our world-class creative and business teams powering outstanding performance at our domestic theme parks, big increases in live-sports viewership, and significant subscriber growth at our streaming services. With 14.4 million Disney+ subscribers added in the fiscal third quarter, we now have 221 million total subscriptions across our streaming offerings,” said Bob Chapek, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. “We continue to transform entertainment as we near our second century, with compelling new storytelling across our many platforms and unique immersive physical experiences that exceed guest expectations, all of which are reflected in our strong operating results this quarter.”
The past several months have been filled with fan outrage over the Mouse House’s persistent sociopolitical push to the left, which began with the announcement to actively work to overturn Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill and included the removal of gender-specific addresses in Park Announcements and how Cast Members address the Guests, as well as the injection of a pro-LGBTQ+ agenda and politically correct diversity that fans argued, was to the point of compromising the integrity of quality storytelling.
Related: Poll: 68% of Americans ‘Unlikely’ to Stay with Disney Due to Child-Focused Woke Agenda
As Disney publically held fast to its new ideals and practices, protests by fans and Cast Members were held in California and Florida, and calls to “boycott” the Theme Parks and Disney+ were raised. Disney also faced trouble at the box office as its latest movie with Pixar Animation, Lightyear, bombed and was banned in several countries. The stock price hit its lowest point in years and completely eliminated the company’s five-year growth, and while there is no official confirmation, speculation about the slide has pointed fingers at Disney’s dip into politics.
Related: ‘Lightyear’ Director Mad at Fans for Box Office Performance, Blames ‘Trolls’ for Ratings
There have still been some recent changes in the Parks that may say otherwise–the most recent of which was the new gender-neutral label for the hairdressing Cast Members at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique–but Chapek’s decision to focus on pure business with investors hopefully demonstrates that Disney is getting its priorities back to where they need to be.
We at Disney Fanatic will continue to update our readers on Disney news and stories as more developments come to light.
