A Disney executive in charge of content has promised at a company-wide meeting that at least half of the characters in its productions will be LGBT or from racial minorities by the end of the year. MailOnline has more.
General Entertainment President Karey Burke said during a company-wide Zoom call that Disney must do more to be more inclusive, as she vowed that 50% of characters and content would be from underrepresented groups.
Meanwhile, Disney’s diversity and inclusion chief Vivian Ware said that they no longer address theme park visitors as “ladies and gentleman, boys and girls” but instead as “dreamers” and “friends”.
Burke choked up during Monday, saying the issue hit close to home because of her children.
“I’m here as the mother of two queer children, actually, one transgender child and one pansexual child, and also as a leader,” she said.
During the same all-hands meeting, television animation executive producer Latoya Raveneau gushed about Disney’s inclusivity and boasted about “adding queerness” to shows and productions.
“Our leadership over there has been so welcoming to my not-so-secret gay agenda,” she said. “Wherever I could I was adding queerness. No one would stop me and no one was trying to stop me.”
Videos from the meeting were leaked to conservative journalist Christopher Rufo of the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal, who first reported them on Twitter.
The Mickey Mouse company has been roiled by protests, counter-protests and walkouts after Florida Gov. Ronald DeSantis signed the so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill into law. The legislation bans teaching kids lessons on sexuality, gender identity and sexual orientation “in a manner that is not age appropriate.”
Read More: Disney to Ramp Up ‘Queerness’ of Characters in New Woke Drive
