Why I Am Done With Disney
For all of my life I have loved Disney. Some of my best memories growing up were at Disney World and Disneyland. I still feel the magical, child-like feelings that I felt when I first heard Circle of Life from the Lion King or You’ve Got A Friend In Me from Toy Story. I remember watching Finding Nemo for the first time on our family vacation to Rehoboth Beach. Even in my high school years, I studied the life of Walt Disney himself, and he became almost as a hero to me. When I think about Disney, I think about all the laughter, and yes, sometimes the tears, that their stories, characters, and parks have given me over the years. I love Disney. And that is what made it so much harder to have to say goodbye to it.
By the way, this is a personal decision that my family and I made. As a Christian, I believe that we have the liberty to make these kind of decisions independent of other people and without judging other people based on their decisions. Basically this: if you and your family decide to still go to Disney World on your next vacation I am not going to judge you or question the sincerity of your religious beliefs. The truth is, I’m actually a little jealous as I scroll through your pictures in front of the Millennium Falcon!
I always knew that Disney had a little bit of a liberal slant and I knew enough about the company’s history to know that men like Michael Eisner tried to make more “adult” content under the Disney name. Despite every warning sign, I defended Disney. I found myself defending Disney to friends and even to members of the congregation that I pastored. I’d say things like, “Disney is not immoral, it is ammoral, they don’t really care about these messages they are promoting, they only care about money. And when they start losing money, they will pivot away from those unChristian messages.” It took me too long to figure out that I was wrong.
In 2022, the state of Florida passed the Parental Rights in Education Bill (HB 1557). Initially, the CEO of Disney, Bob Chapek, was pressured to make a statement against the bill. He replied that making such a statement would only be weaponized against the company and that actions spoke louder than words. I was excited! I thought, “Wow! Disney is finally going to go back to being politically neutral!” However, the activists in the company got very angry at Chapek for making this statement and demanded change. They staged walk outs both in California and in Florida. Instead of standing by what he had said, he buckled under the pressure and apologized for not being a good enough ally to the LGBTQIA+ community. Furthermore, he crossed a line by saying that the Disney Company would make it a priority to make sure the Parental Rights in Education Bill does not come to pass. Days later, a video leaked from a meeting within Disney called Reimagine Tomorrow. In it, the members bragged about inserting homosexuality into Disney content, sometimes in a sneaky way, sometimes not. This meeting confirmed what many believed about Disney’s gay agenda, but now it was not a secret agenda, it was out in the open. They committed in that meeting to making sure that there was even more LGBTQIA representation in children’s content. That has led to projects like Lightyear and Strange World having openly gay characters.
These two incidents helped me realize two things. First, Disney does not love me back, Disney hates me. Disney will do whatever it can to undermine my beliefs at every possible opportunity that it can. I realized that I was in an abusive relationship with Disney and that they expected me to keep loving and supporting them while they constantly maligned me. Second, I realized that Disney thinks that they can parent my children better than I can. They have shown this time and time again by forcing parents to have uncomfortable conversations that neither the kids nor the parents are ready for. And I will tell you this, no corporation is going to tell me how to raise my kids.
Will Disney change? I hope so. I hope they go back to being neutral and caring more about money than message. But until then, I cannot, in good conscience, give my money to a company that has made it clear that it hates me. I cannot support any of their business as long as they malign my sincerely held Christian beliefs. I cannot watch their movies, I cannot go to their parks, and I cannot buy their merchandise. It hurts, it is hard, but Disney has walked away from me, so my only response to Disney can be “TTFN! Ta Ta For Now!”