The fallout from Disney’s adventure into left-wing ideology escalated this week, as South Carolina announced that it would divest state money from the Walt Disney Company due to what it alleges is a disregard for investors in the company's pursuit of a leftist progressive agenda.
“Disney has abandoned its fiduciary responsibilities to its investors,” South Carolina State Treasurer Curtis Loftis told The Epoch Times. “If you look at their stock price, market cap, the performance of their movies and parks, you realize that the investment part of their business is not of very much interest to them.”
As a first step, South Carolina will divest from $105 million dollars of Disney bonds that the state will not replace as they mature. Next, the state will focus on its holdings of Disney stock and possibly divest from that as well.
Disney has sparked controversy and alienated many of its conservative customers over the past several years by taking on political causes that included fighting against a Florida parents’ rights law that banned teachers from discussing sexual topics in elementary schools. Disney's other progressive ventures included sexualizing content in children’s TV shows and movies to promote LGBT ideas that seek to rewrite social definitions of sex.
Last week, Disney joined a dozen other corporations, including Apple, AirBnB, Coca-Cola, IBM, Microsoft, and Xfinity, to pull advertising from the X social media platform, formerly Twitter, after left-wing pressure group Media Matters accused the platform of permitting companies’ ads to appear beside antisemitic posts on the site.
X’s owner Elon Musk, who has become a pariah for many on the left for allowing speech on the platform that they designate as “hateful,” said that he would file a "thermonuclear lawsuit" against Media Matters, charging that they misrepresented the “real user experience of X” in order to "undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers.” X has argued that user behavior determines what context is fed to them, and that its platform has less hate speech than found on competitor platforms, which also face the same content challenge.
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Speaking at a New York Times DealBook conference last week, Mr. Musk said the companies that are threatening his platform with boycotts can “go [expletive] yourself,” calling out Disney CEO Bob Iger in the process.
Ironically, in Disney’s fight against the state of Florida, it argued that the state’s retaliatory decision to cancel the privileged self-governing status of DisneyWorld’s Reedy Creek Improvement district facility infringed on the company's freedom of speech.
“What really bothered me about this was that it was a gang of billionaires, Walmart, Disney, IBM and others,” South Carolina's Mr. Loftis said. “This gang of global corporations has decided to gang up on one legitimate company that happens to have the last free-speech platform at scale that is being used by middle and working class people.”
Corporations, he said, “can buy speech. Working people can’t.”
In its Sept. 30 10-K filings with the SEC, Disney conceded that its political positions had become a material risk factor for investors.
“We face risks relating to misalignment with public and consumer tastes and preferences,” Disney stated in its filing. “Consumers’ perceptions of our position on matters of public interest, including our efforts to achieve certain of our environmental and social goals, often differ widely and present risks to our reputation and brands.”
Disney has suffered a series of flops from its movie slate, which some critics have described as “woke,” including a remake of The Little Mermaid and Indian Jones and the Dial of Destiny, a failed sequel to a hit franchise.
The company has so far spent more than $1 billion on films that failed to take off at the box office in 2023. Its latest offering, “Wish,” released in November and described by critics as “a corporate propaganda exercise disguised as entertainment,” also appears to be headed for disappointment.
As a result of the poor performance of Disney’s stock, its shareholders are voicing their ire. Nelson Pelz, whose firm Trian Fund Management owns $3 billion in Disney shares, has been steadily turning up the heat on company management, demanding two board seats. And when the company refused, he threatened to take his case directly to shareholders.
In a statement issued last week, Mr. Pelz said that Disney has lost $70 billion in market value since last February and that “Disney’s share price has underperformed proxy peers and the broader market over every relevant period during the last decade.”
Mr. Loftis said he shares these concerns about Disney stock, given its shift in brand identity from what had been a highly successful family-friendly entertainment company to one that has been criticized for sponsoring an environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda, and pushing progressive ideology on children.
“The rot has set in,” Mr. Loftis said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if in the future, they’re broken up and sold off in pieces.
“There will be something left of Disney,” he said. “It’s just not the powerhouse it used to be.”
In June, Disney’s Chief Diversity Officer Latondra Newton departed after six years at the firm. Under her tenure, Disney removed terms like "boys and girls" from their theme park greetings to be more inclusive of other genders.
The Epoch Times has reached out to Disney for comment but has yet to receive a response.