Today’s Disney shareholder call gave us a lot of inside information about the company that dominates a large portion of pop culture—mainly that Black Widow is still set for a May release and that they have plans to reopen Disneyland in a few months. But what was interesting for me was when they started to talk about Star Wars and their Disney+ content.
Disney+ has hit a milestone with over 100 million subscribers, which comes on the heels of #CancelDisney+ trending from outraged right-wing figures over the firing of Gina Carano. That milestone is important to note because clearly, their boycott attempts aren’t working. But it did open the door to the shareholders asking some … interesting questions that mirror that of the very loud and rude male fanbase surrounding the Star Wars franchise.
Since the dawning of Star Wars studio Lucasfilm being acquired by Disney, the sexism towards those in charge and the stories they were telling in the Star Wars universe has been ramped up to eleven by gross members of the Star Wars fanbase. Sure, prior to Lucasfilm being sold, there were sexist men who were convinced women couldn’t like the franchise. I know, I dealt with them all the time as a fan. But it wasn’t like this.
Now, every move that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy makes is attacked by men online. They want her fired for simply touching Star Wars. Prior to Gina Carano revealing herself to be a Trump parrot, men hated the idea of Cara Dune because she was a strong woman. Their tune has obviously changed now that Carano has been let go from Disney for harmful social media posts that these awful men agree with, but that initial hatred of her involvement in the franchise is not forgotten.
So when the shareholders began asking questions, it was jarring to hear this sexist rhetoric and nonsense questioning that often exists online being parroted at Disney CEO Bob Chapek on a call.
OMFG. Shareholder says it’s “obvious” there’s a new Disney blacklist, calls out that Gina Carano and Pedro Pascal tweeted basically the same thing (???). “This is the way?”
Chapek:
“I don’t see Disney standing as a left leaning or right leaning company.”— Alex Zalben (@azalben) March 9, 2021
Chapek went on to say that Disney stands for “values,” ones that are universal and values of respect, and I think that’s a beautiful way to answer questions like these and shut down these “trolls” who want to act like they didn’t hate the idea of Cara Dune when The Mandalorian was announced anyway.
The questions didn’t stop there, sadly. Another man decided to ask about Kathleen Kennedy.
Someone just asked if they’re going to FIRE KATHLEEN KENNEDY and put Filoni in charge!!!
Chapek’s response:
“We’ve been thrilled to have the creative talent, the likes of Kathy Kennedy to run [Lucasfilm] and look forward to her running it for many years to come.”
— Jordan Maison (@JordanMaison) March 9, 2021
What’s concerning to me is that this sounds like the angry fanboy rhetoric that I see spread online. These fans seem to think that they know more than the creatives behind the franchise, and it’s frustrating to see reflected in an investors’ call. Chapek did an incredible job responding to them, simply shutting down the Carano/Pascal response and praising Kathleen Kennedy, but the fact that these questions were even asked is shocking.
Hopefully, in the future, they keep these sort of fan-based ridiculous anger questions out of the calls, but still. You can listen to all the information here, and I can’t wait to see what Disney has in store for us!
(image: Lucasfilm)
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Published: Mar 9, 2021 03:25 pm