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It seems that most of the news relating to the Walt Disney Company recently has been primarily focused on its apparent “wokeness” and criticism for the same. From the casting decisions for The Little Mermaid—Princess Ariel is played by Black singer and actress Halle Bailey—and Peter Pan and Wendy—the stunning Yara Shahidi plays Tinker Bell—to Disney Parks changes like Splash Mountain being replaced by Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, many have been quite disappointed by the Mouse House.
Disney characters on Main Street, U.S.A./Courtesy of Disney
Critics have said for months now that they are tired of Disney’s decisions and they want to see Disney return to being “fun” and that they want to see the return of Disney’s previous quality. While this has been debate that has raged online for months, the community now took it straight to Bob Iger and the leadership at the Walt Disney Company.
On Monday, April 3, the Walt Disney Company had its annual shareholders meeting and there were some interesting outcomes from that. For one, Disney announced a new live-action Moana movie. For another, we found Walt Disney World Resort is going to hire 13,000 more Cast Members.
Disney CEO Bob Iger / Credit: CNBC
However in the midst of this, one shareholder implored Disney CEO Bob Iger to “Please turn Disney back to the apolitical fun place that it used to be.”
At the time, Iger responded, “We’ve recently gotten criticism, as you just expressed, for what some perceived to be agenda-driven content, and I’m sensitive to that actually.” The CEO continued, “I’m very serious about that. It should not be agenda-driven. It should be entertainment-driven. That should be the goal of all of our stories.”
Disney + / Credit: SOPA
However, as we’ve noted before, Disney is unlikely to change track for what many perceive to be “woke” content. He followed up the earlier sentiment by sharing Disney is committed to “telling stories that reflect the world around us.”
Part of his concluding notes on the subject included, “As long as I’m in the job, I’m going to continue to be guided by a sense of decency and respect and trust our instincts that when we do weigh in, we weigh in because the issue is truly relevant to our business and to the people that work for us.”
