The Orlando Sentinel published an op-ed on Friday by a loyal Disney fan that condemned the evolving “wokeness” of Disney World. His claims were met with ridicule from people across the entertainment industry.
“I love the Orlando Sentinel, but racist ‘journalism’ is ruining the experience,” “Frozen” actor and frequent Disney employee Josh Gad tweeted.
I love the Orlando Sentinel, but racist “journalism” is ruining the experience. https://t.co/VkWhLLXXbv
— Josh Gad (@joshgad) April 24, 2021
The guest author of the piece, Jonathan VanBoskerck, is a chief deputy district attorney in Clark County, Nevada; he also disclosed that he is a Christian and conservative Republican. As someone who would have to journey across the country to visit the theme park, VanBoskerck explained that “Disney World is going to lose us as customers if it continues down this path.”
His umbrage was fueled by the changes to the Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise and Splash Mountain rides, which have been implemented to remove the bigoted elements of the attractions. VanBoskerck also voiced his displeasure with Disney World’s allowance of cast members to don inclusive hairstyles and display tattoos.
“The parks are less fun because immersion and thus the joy is taking a back seat to politics,” he wrote. “Disney, please return to the values and vision of Walt. The customer experience should be the core of your business model. Immersion should not be sacrificed on the altar of political correctness and appeasing the Twitter mob.”
Another frequent Disney employee, “Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn, laid out his view of the op-ed.
The "wokeness", specifically, is seeing cast members tattoos & removing a character named "Trader Sam" from Jungle Cruise. A grown man sees these things (or doesn't see them) & gets all worked up & the experience is "ruined" for him. Somehow he doesn't see this as HIS problem. https://t.co/FFhYCpHiDO
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) April 23, 2021
“The ‘wokeness’, specifically, is seeing cast members tattoos & removing a character named ‘Trader Sam’ from Jungle Cruise,” he wrote on Twitter. “A grown man sees these things (or doesn’t see them) & gets all worked up & the experience is “ruined” for him. Somehow he doesn’t see this as HIS problem.”
See below for more reactions from Patton Oswalt, Franklin Leonard and more.
There should be a statue of @ScottSeiss in Dundalk. https://t.co/tsdgUAkc1d
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 23, 2021
The people who most need to get roasted in a group chat don’t have a group chat to get roasted in. https://t.co/d1lvx1JT9F
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) April 23, 2021
I thought we couldn't get more inane discourse than "the founders didn't intend for Washington DC to be a state," but today brought us "Walt Disney didn't intend for Disney World to not be racist."
— Josh Gondelman (@joshgondelman) April 23, 2021
Has anyone checked this dude’s crawl space? https://t.co/LGo3ZeqYf6
— Hal Sparks (@HalSparks) April 23, 2021
Imagine overpaying to see people in half-naked animal costumes and gays in tights singing songs written by other gays only to decide the retirement of a racist robot on a log ride is too much for your conservative sensibilities. https://t.co/3vdEU9yQX7
— Gabe González (@gaybonez) April 23, 2021
It's just telling how these guys don't get that their hatred for people that are different from them is what's making them unhappy. This guy can't even enjoy his vacation because he's too busy worrying about dumb shit like whether Jack Sparrow has a tattoo. Imagine. https://t.co/YHkqpaiwqL
— SPIRAL CURSE DEMARCO (@Clarknova1) April 23, 2021
i don’t even have the fucking energy. https://t.co/UQXjq5KLyI
— javier grillo-marxuach (@OKBJGM) April 23, 2021
