In relation to Disney's financial support of legislators behind Florida's don't say gay bill, some Disney staff walked out yesterday.

It's a horrible bill and we're happy to see it protested but there are some very interesting layers to this story.

Political Donations

At the heart of this dispute are political donations.

The organizers of the walkouts are asking Disney to pull all donations from Florida legislators who have backed the controversial bill.

We are not political scientists or commentators but have previously looked at political donations in Australia and one of the first things we noticed is that apart from obviously partisan groups like unions, most corporations and organisations donate to both major parties.

Government swings back and forth between them so sooner or later you're going to have to deal with them in power.

Best to grease both their wheels would be the philosophy.

The same would apply to the US.

This bill is awful and condemnation of it and its supporters and its supporters' supporters (i.e. Disney) is well deserved.

But Disney cutting off the right would be uncommonly partisan and could even boost support for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who is seen as a potential presidential candidate.

In the same way that cancelling Roseanne after her racist tweet might have helped Trump.

We would cut these bill supporters off - because it's the right thing to do - and wish upon a star for a Disney-style happy ending, but don't envy them this decision.

Lucasfilm

Deadline detail what they say appear to be co-ordinated social media delcarations of support for this protest from Disney divisions and companies.

Conspicuously absent is Lucasfilm.

While Lucasfilm Boss Kathleen Kennedy didn’t ding the scrambling Chapek, at the PGA awards where she was honored on Saturday, she did cite the impact of diverse, female and LGBTQ artists in the motion industry.

Kennedy said, “As women, artists of color, LGBTQ and differently labeled artists and producers, who have fought for and won a place at the table, propelling our community toward more inclusive, diverse, richer, more sophisticated and nuanced sense of responsibilities for social, racial and economic justice.”

It's our view that the only good thing Lucasfilm have done with Star Wars is improve diversity.

Which was absolutely needed.

Sadly the entertainment quality and also spirit of their productions have been highly variable.

And we don't at all appreciate the continuing lie that those who don't love new content are just bigots.

We have noticed that Disney seem to be treading gingerly when it comes to politics.

Lucy Lawless (aka Xena Warrior Princess) was being considered for a Star Wars role but reported losing it after fans campaigned for her to replace the fired for controversial tweets Gina Carano in The Mandalorian.

Making Lucy too politically divisive to hire.

Disney's choice of Quantic Dream to develop upcoming game Star Wars: Eclipse may also have been politically motivated.

It has drawn considerable criticism because of allegations of workplace misconduct, including the making of comments like:

At Quantic Dream, we don’t make games for f**s.

Allegations which have been tested in French courts with mixed results.

We don't know if these allegations are true or not so don't fault the decision to hire them.

But their choice may have been motivated by a desire to appear at least a little bit anti cancel culture.

As might be the case with Lucasfilm not joining the condemnation of this bill and its supporters.

In which case it's just more of the same old lie - everyone who doesn't love new Star Wars content are bigots.

Tiresome.

On another level it also has the unfortunate effect of making it seem like the lone voice not denouncing Disney's position is also the lone woman in the room.

Quite possibly some of company heads responsible for the social media support of the protestors are women - we'd hope so - but none are identified as such.

[ Main Image: Protest support logo. Credit: Disney Parks via Instagram. ]

References

Graves, Sabina (March 23, 2022). The Disney Walkout Gains Momentum as LGBTQIA+ Employees and Allies Take a Stand. Gizmodo.

Patten, D. & D'Alessandro, A. (March 22, 2022). Disney Staffers Take To Streets & Social Media In Walkout Over Company’s Reaction To ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill; Hulu, Disney+, FX, ESPN + More Offer Social Media Support – Update. Deadline.

Whitbrook, James (December 17, 2021). Why Queer Star Wars Fans Are So Upset at Its Newest Video Game Saga. Gizmodo.