Though this passionate feminist was already 71 years old and had already planned to retire a year ago, this latest episode with Musk has seemingly pushed her to expedite the process.
The new ‘woke’ row came barely a month after another one involving Anthony Mackie, who plays Captain America in Captain America: Brave New World — a Marvel Studios production, owned by Disney. In a January interview, Mackie refused to define his character as representing the United States: “To me Captain America represents a lot of different things, and I don’t think the term ‘America’ should be one of those representations.” Instead, he gave him other features, such as: “a man who keeps his word, who has honour, dignity and integrity. Someone who is trustworthy and dependable.” This sparked immediate criticism from conservative influencers and MAGA supporters. Later, in an effort to deflect the criticism, the actor insisted that he was a “proud American”.
Disney Leaving DEI to Die
Following the election of Donald Trump, ‘wokeism’ doesn’t seem as fashionable as it used to be,— neither for actors, nor for their employers. The latest corporate leader to put the brakes on it was none other than Bob Iger, chief executive of the Walt Disney Company. In an interview on CNBC last year, Bob Iger pledged a return “to our roots” whilst acknowledging that “they [the public] want to be entertained and sometimes they can be turned off by certain things and we just have to be more sensitive to the interest of a broad audience. It’s not easy, you know, so you can’t please everybody all the time.”
When asked whether a new Trump presidency would change Disney’s approach to the film production, Iger declined to give a clear answer. However, in December 2024 Disney pulled a storyline featuring a transgender athlete from the upcoming Pixar animated series “Win or Lose”.
