(UPDATED with more details) The planned full-day walkout at Disney today over the company’s fumbled response to Florida’s discriminatory “Don’t Say Gay” bill has seen an outpouring of support for the LGBTQ+ community from some leading divisions in the House of Mouse’s empire, as well as from staffers themselves.
According to sources on the Burbank lot earlier this morning, there weren’t any protesters gathering outside the Alameda Avenue gate yet; just some cameraman and other media. This turned into a calculated walkout around 10AM.
Instead of protesting in front of the studio gate on Alameda Ave., under 100 staffers headed over to the Bette Davis Picnic area nearby. By 11AM, it was crickets in front of the Burbank gate with studio security clueless that a protest ever occurred. The road closure on nearby S. Keystone pertained not to a protest, but an actual location production shoot going on.
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Hundreds of Disney employees walking out at company HQ in Burbank #DisneyWalkout pic.twitter.com/n9QpNmAHIf
— Steve Desaulniers (@steve_desaul) March 22, 2022
When contacted by email, a number of Disney staffers had “I am out today in solidarity with my LGBTQIA+ colleagues” as their Out of Office message. Some also took to social media themselves:
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Disney Animation Studios employees full day #DisneyWalkout #DisneyDoBetter #DisneySayGay Supporting our fellow Florida co-workers and LGBTQIA+ community. Solidarity. 🌈♥️✊🏽 pic.twitter.com/zwKZisJtUr
— Rebecca Perez (@reblynk) March 22, 2022
https://twitter.com/kadejw/status/1506297159913775111
It’s #DisneyWalkout day, and as a gay writer on a Disney show I’m stepping away from zoom to highlight the hypocrisy of a company who asks me to create inspiring diverse content, while simultaneously harming my communities. #DisneySayGay #DisneySayTrans #DisneyDoBetter
— kevin yee (@kevinyeedotcom) March 22, 2022
Anyone who knows me knows how much my job and the Walt Disney Company mean to me and how hard it is to get me to stop working—even during off hours. But here we are. More info @DisneyWalkout.#DisneySayGay #DisneySayTrans #DisneyDoBetter pic.twitter.com/mmuPcr6zaT
— Matt Martin – INACTIVE (@missingwords) March 22, 2022
Of course, realize that most of Disney’s staffers are still working from home, through production still continues on the lot.
Various shows like Disney Channel’s Bunk’d are also stepped away for the day. “As employees of The Walt Disney Company, and allies of the LGBTQIA+ community, the Bunk’d Writer’s Room will be participating in an organized and unified full-day walkout today to speak out against Disney’s lack of action against the ‘Don’t Say Gay or Trans Bill,'” says the OOO for the Pamela Eells O’Connell created comedy series.
On the other side of of the country, there do not seem to be any protestors outside DisneyWorld‘s gates in Orlando nor at Disney’s NYC HQ on W.66th either at this point. No word yet on what the situation is like at DisneyLand in Anaheim. There has been no official statement from Disney HQ on the walkout.
While we hear that some employees worry about retaliation if they do make a public stance on the streets, a social media blast by the walkout organizers is still set for 11 AM PT today. Since March 15, some staffers employees have been walking out each day from 3 to 3:15 PM.
Hulu, ESPN, Walt Disney World, Disney+ and FX, among others, took to social media Tuesday morning to show that they “fearlessly” support our LGBTQIA+ colleagues, their families and communities,” as the John Landgraf-led cabler put it in a tweet.
Check out the seemingly coordinated posts from the Disney divisions here:
— FX Networks (@FXNetworks) March 22, 2022
ESPN believes in inclusivity and denounces legislation and actions across the United States that infringe on any human rights. We stand with our LGBTQIA+ colleagues, friends, families, and fans.
— ESPN (@espn) March 22, 2022
We stand with our LGBTQIA+ colleagues, storytellers, families, friends, and fans who are targeted by laws that marginalize and diminish their identities and lives. We remain committed to telling inclusive stories that unite us and celebrate the diverse LGBTQIA+ community.
— Hulu (@hulu) March 22, 2022
The organizers of the walkouts are asking Disney to pull all donations from Florida legislators who have backed the controversial bill. As celebs like Kerry Washington offered their support for Tuesday’s walkout, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who had a number of dust-ups with Disney during the first year of the pandemic, tweeted out: “Disney employees are doing the right thing today — standing up for their LGBTQ colleagues against the Florida GOP’s hateful attacks. California stands with them.”
In that context, as Sunshine State Gov Ron DeSantis has taken now to openly mocking CEO Bob Chapek and the “woke” Disney, the Hulu, FX, and ESPN tweets and Disneyworld IG post today follow those of ex-CEO Bob Iger in late February and Marvel Studios last week, who denounced any legislation that infringes on basic human rights of the LGTQIA+ community. 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.”
Yesterday, Disney hit the pause button on it’s big wig retreat set for next week in yet another response to the ongoing crisis.
This latest retreat, pun intended, comes after a self-described “worst week” at the House of Mouse that finally led to a “sorry” from Chapek after initially refuting the worth of corporate statements on political events and legislation.
As today reveals, that sorry was sadly too little, too late for many.
In fact, on March 9, the Human Rights Campaign, America’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil rights organization, announced it will not accept any more funding from Disney without a greater commitment to LGBTQ+ rights.
Poised to be signed by potential 2024 Presidential candidate DeSantis the “Don’t Say Gay” bill that effectively bans virtually all discussion or teaching about the LGBTQ+ community and “sexual orientation or gender identity” in the state’s public school system from kindergarten to the 3rd Grade.