(LifeSiteNews) – Family entertainment giant Disney may finally be on the verge of putting its “woke” era behind it, according to recent comments by a company insider.
On April 17, The Blaze published the comments of software engineer Josh Daws, a 12 1/2-year Disney veteran recently laid off as part of the company’s “restructuring” that has slashed 1,000 jobs so far.
Inviting social media users to “ask me anything,” Daws opened up about what he saw and experienced on the inside. A Christian, he said he had “not enough” fellow Christians as co-workers, but “more than you might think.” He rejected speculation that “white males or Christians were removed first” in the layoffs and attributed perceived hatred of conservatives and Christians and obsession with the LGBT agenda to a “very small and vocal minority of the company.”
“Most of us conservatives keep our heads down,” he said. “We’re the minority for sure, but most folks just want to make cool stuff. I was more worried about outside pressure getting me fired than anything internal, which is why I always kept my employer a closely guarded secret.”
For the most radical thing he witnessed during his time at the company, Daws revealed, “I was in that ‘not-at-all-secret gay agenda’ all hands,” referring to a notorious meeting leaked in 2022 in which executive producer Latoya Raveneau boasted about the company’s efforts to add “queerness” to children’s programming; production coordinator Allen March explained his team had a “tracker” to ensure they create a sufficient number of “gender nonconforming characters,” “canonical trans characters,” and “canonical bisexual characters”; “diversity and inclusion” manager Vivian Ware revealed the company has purged the terms “ladies,” “gentlemen,” “boys,” and “girls” from its theme parks to create “that magical moment” for gender-nonconforming children; and more.
Daws said that Disney’s Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) initiatives “peaked in 2020” but have been in a “steady decline” ever since. “They’ve toned it down a ton since Trump was elected,” he claimed. “The vibe shift is real.”
Daws claimed Disney is aware of how “out of touch” with its fans it has grown and said he’s “cautiously optimistic” for change. “Can’t say much. Mood internally has shifted in what I consider a positive direction.”
Once a unifying cultural institution, over the past decade especially, Disney has steadily infused left-wing politics into the army of entertainment properties it owns, such as appeasing LGBT “representation” demands in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Star Wars franchise, normalizing transgenderism and same-sex unions in animation aimed at younger audiences, selling LGBT “pride” merchandise, using films such as its failed Snow White remake as vehicles for feminism, and more.
In recent months, there has been speculation about Disney finally backtracking from its woke turn between the removal of a planned transgender storyline from its Pixar animated series Win or Lose, rumors of reshoots removing political content from February’s Captain America: Brave New World, and the conspicuous omission of two diversity initiatives from its latest U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.
While much has been made of the financial toll taken by Disney’s “woke” approach to Star Wars and Marvel not resonating with fans as well as its failed battle with Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, plus public lip service by CEO Bob Iger about toning down the company’s role in the culture war, in April 2024 shareholders rejected a bid by investor Nelson Peltz and former Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter to take over the board and shift the company back to its roots.
Since then, several more developments have suggested woke activists may be in retreat within Disney: executive intervention to remove “queer-coded” subtext from the Pixar animated feature Elio; the long-awaited Fantastic Four: First Steps using Marvel’s original superhero family as an affirmation of motherhood and the intrinsic value of children, complete with a scene in which Sue “Invisible Woman” Storm uses her invisibility powers to view her preborn son Franklin in the womb; and a settlement of conservative Star Wars actress Gina Carano’s wrongful termination lawsuit that opened the door to rehiring her in the future.
All that being said, the “de-woking” of Disney is far from complete; Disneyland California is still slated to host two LGBT “Pride Night” events in June.