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Lesson learned? Following recent spanking over parental rights, Disney stays silent on Roe v. Wade

May 9, 2022 | | Print Article

Amid plummeting stocks and the revocation of its special self-governance status in Florida following its opposition to the Sunshine State’s Parental Rights in Education law, Disney has remained suspiciously silent on the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion that indicates Roe v. Wade could soon be overturned, leaving many to wonder if the company has learned its lesson about going woke.

As The Daily Mail noted, Disney had previously been quite vocal about its pro-abortion stance, threatening in 2019 to discontinue filming in Georgia over a “heartbeat” law that bans abortions after six weeks.

Though Disney had filmed such blockbusters as “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Endgame” in Georgia, then-Chief Executive Bob Iger told Reuters at the time that it would be “very difficult” for the company to continue filming in the state once the law was implemented.

“I rather doubt we will,” Iger said. “I think many people who work for us will not want to work there, and we will have to heed their wishes in that regard. Right now we are watching it very carefully.”

“I don’t see how it’s practical for us to continue to shoot there,” Iger added.

Flash forward a few years, and Disney CEO Bob Chapek has so far remained silent on the issue, even as protests are spreading across the nation.

Bowing to pressure from woke employees, Chapek discovered, can be a very costly move.

As previously reported, radical Disney employees formed an official “walkout group” in March in response to the company’s perceived insensitivity towards the LGBTQIA+ community in the face of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s “Parental Rights in Education” bill — disingenuously called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by activists — which sought to prohibit discussions on sex and gender in K-3 classrooms.

The group issued a list of demands to Chapek, including a commitment from Disney of “stopping construction and investment” in Florida until the bill is “repealed.”

Chapek caved, releasing an apology to Disney employees and the LGBTQ+ community and vowing to increase Disney’s “support for advocacy groups to combat similar legislation in other states.”

Furthermore, said Chapek, the company would pause “all political donations in the state of Florida pending” a review.

Florida pushed back, revoking the status Reedy Creek had enjoyed for more than 50 years and forcing the company to pay “its fair share of taxes.”

In the wake of the scandal, Disney’s stocks tumbled. By April 22, the company had lost more than $10 per share and was reportedly on track to being “one of the worst-performing stocks of 2022.”

After this kind of public spanking, Disney isn’t the only one keeping its thoughts on abortion to itself.

As Breitbart reported Friday, PR giant Zeno Group, which handles such multi-billion-dollar clients as Coca-Cola, AT&T, and Starbucks, warned companies in an email template sent to company staff that speaking out on the Supreme Court draft leak could be a “no-win” situation.

“Do not take a stance you cannot reverse, especially when the decision is not final,” cautioned Zeno Group’s Executive Vice President for Media Strategy, Katie Cwayna, in the template. “This topic is a textbook ’50/50′ issue. Subjects that divide the country can sometimes be no-win situations for companies because regardless of what they do they will alienate at least 15 to 30 percent of their stakeholders… Do not assume that all of your employees, customers or investors share your view.”

Melissa Fine
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