According to recent reports, the Walt Disney Company has seen its stock price plummet roughly 49% over the past three years. While the overall market has increased by approximately 15 percent, the embattled entertainment giant is not enjoying the benefits of the growing economic pie. However, conservative critics of the company claim to have diagnosed the root of the problem.
Over the past few years, Disney has been criticized for interjecting itself into American politics and social issues within the culture war. For example, the company decided to pick a fight with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over his legislative efforts to protect parental rights in the classroom. The move generated significant backlash from Republicans, where DeSantis moved to revoke substantial tax benefits from Disney World in Orlando.
Furthermore, Disney has drawn substantial criticism regarding an apparent woke political agenda that has been included in its latest entertainment offerings, which have turned away conservative audiences. For example, the company has been blasted for allegedly including sexualized themes in movies and shows geared toward children.
As Breitbart’s John Nolte put it, “It’s no secret what’s happening here. It was about three years ago when one of the most trusted, beloved, and universal brands in the world went woke. But Disney didn’t only go woke with the usual-usual issues like identity politics and environmental nonsense. No, Disney went woke in a hypersexual way aimed directly at little kids.”
Nolte further claimed that Disney had shed nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars from major box office flops over the past year. “The result has been brutal to Disney’s once invulnerable brand as well as its bottom line. Last year, my conservative estimate was that Disney lost at least $750 million on its failed film slate. People, especially parents concerned with protecting their children, knew they had to stay away,” he said.
The American Tribune recently reported on other news related to Disney’s troubled stock price. Major activist investor Ike Perlmutter dumped roughly 26 million shares of the company’s stock, sparking a spiral in market value. The stock that Perlmutter sold was worth approximately $3 billion, driven by his disagreement with the company’s direction.
Despite the palpable backlash from audiences and activist investors alike, Disney CEO Bob Iger came out and defended the company maintaining that its number one goal has always been to entertain audiences. The chief executive also suggested that the meaning of the term “woke,” which has consistently been used to describe Disney, has lost its value.
Iger said, “I’ve been preaching this for a long time at the company before I left and since I came back that our No. 1 goal is to entertain. I think, like, the term woke is thrown around rather liberally, no pun intended in that regard. I think a lot of people don’t even understand really what it means. The bottom line is that infusing messaging as a sort of No. 1 priority in our films and TV shows is not what we’re up to. They need to be entertaining.”
"*" indicates required fields