For years during its feud with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, The Walt Disney Company was seen by its critics as having “gone woke.” Disney spoke out against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, known by its critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, but the company also inserted LGBTQ+ characters into its movies and television shows and recast traditional white characters with an African American playing Ariel in The Little Mermaid (2023) and Rachel Zegler, who is half Colombian, in Snow White (2025).
All these moves and others, including the removal of Splash Mountain, brought massive amounts of criticism down on Disney, including from prominent Republicans like DeSantis and Donald Trump. However, with Trump back in office now, Disney and most of the country are taking a hard right turn.
It started with Disney CEO Bob Iger admitting that stepping into politics hurt the Disney brand. Iger and ABC News would also settle their lawsuit with Trump for $15 million.
Disney also cut a transgender storyline from Pixar’s Win or Lose on Disney+ while also adding an openly Christian character.
This shit to the right has paid off for Disney in a big way. Disney has one of the surprise hits of the year with the anti-woke sitcom Shifting Gears starring Tim Allen.
An outspoken Trump supporter, Allen headlines the show that has garnered 10 million weekly viewers across ABC and Hulu. This shift across networks has been due to what the Wall Street Journal has called “the Trump effect.”
Many of the experts who spoke with the Journal said that networks, including Disney’s family of networks, are “scrubbing anything perceived as woke.”
Dan Abrams, host and executive producer of On Patrol: Live, told the Journal:
There is a course correction when it comes to entertainment. There has been a bit of a wake-up call, not just in Trump being elected but in the lead-up as well.
This also comes at a time when most studios, including Disney, have either scaled back or eliminated their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
With Shifting Gears’ ratings placing it among the top 20 most-watched shows last week, it is clear that Disney has a hit, and “anti-woke” may be the way to go in the future.
What do you think of Disney’s ‘anti-woke’ shift?
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