The Walt Disney Company appears to be financially benefiting — and more — young filmmakers who profess belief in Islam. It’s part of a little-known program within the company called RISE… and it’s led by someone with an interesting background.
Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan in Marvel Studios’ MS. MARVEL, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.
ThatParkPlace.com was sent a tip by a reader that has turned out to be quite the interesting situation for The Walt Disney Company. According to information we’ve received, Disney may be acting in a way that could reasonably be considered stifling to those of Christian, Jewish, and other religious beliefs. It all comes down to a program that is awarding significant funds and assistance to those who profess Islam as their world view. While at first we were stunned to even consider that this was real, it turns out it’s real and publicly available for us to confirm:
About two months ago, Disney put out the following statement:
The Walt Disney Company and Sundance Institute, the nonprofit organization behind Sundance Film Festival and Sundance Labs, announced the first cohort of the “Sundance Institute | The Walt Disney Company Muslim Artist Fellowship.” This fellowship program aims to provide four Muslim artists with year-round comprehensive creative and tactical support, enabling them to cultivate their skills and advance within the industry.
Disney’s support of the Muslim Artist Fellowship is part of Disney Future Storytellers, an initiative to deliver on the company’s commitment to empower the next generation of storytellers and innovators. Through social investments and programs that provide inspiration and hands-on experience, Disney is helping today’s up-and-coming storytellers dream about their future, build their talents and skills, and become who they imagine they can be.
“We are honored to join forces with the Sundance Institute to launch the Muslim Artist Fellowship – an initiative that reflects our shared dedication to fostering the next generation of filmmakers,” expressed Mahin Ibrahim, Director of Creative Talent Pathways, Representation & Inclusion Strategies at Disney. “Through this collaborative effort, we aim to amplify the diverse perspectives of these artists while empowering them to propel their careers and craft compelling narratives that resonate with audiences worldwide.”
As part of this initiative, each artist is provided with an unrestricted grant of $15,000 and individualized support to facilitate the advancement of their projects. As a Sundance Institute grantee, the fellowship also extends exclusive opportunities for networking and community-building events, allowing artists to connect with fellow creatives and industry professionals.
“Our collaboration with The Walt Disney Company will help further opportunities to uplift Muslim artists and their narratives. Supporting these artists through a bespoke fellowship will not only elevate Muslim representation but also bring more visibility to their stories,” said Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs, Sundance Institute’s Director of Artist Accelerator and Women at Sundance Programs. “We’re thrilled to launch this new initiative to provide support to these four talented artists—Kamau Bilal, Razi Jafri, Sarah Mokh, and Jumai Yusuf—through this fellowship.”
Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan in Marvel Studios’ THE MARVELS. Photo by Laura Radford. © 2023 MARVEL.
A look into the recipients of these unrestricted grants reveals that they are not all of the same ethnicities, races, geographic locations nor races. The recipients seem to solely be allowed into this category of grant beneficiary via their professed status of “Muslim,” a term that denotes belief and adherence to Islam.
However, looking into these individuals also brings about the question of how Disney determined who was a Muslim and who wasn’t. For example, one reference in the press release to a project by a Muslim grant recipient is clear that their project is similar to She-Ra and the Princesses of Power — a cartoon with strong lesbian themes. While we take no position on She-Ra nor its messages in this article, we’re cognizant that many Muslim belief systems would not be keen to promote such a theme.
It appears that this grant program is driven via a department / initiative inside The Walt Disney Company that has, up until this point, received very little scrutiny from our coverage. RISE (Representation and Inclusion Strategies) is a large effort within Disney that crosses studios, departments, and even subsidiaries.
It appears to be a well-funded, cohesive push within the company that ensures non-white, non-European, non-Judeo-Christian stories and personalities are promoted to tremendous extent.
Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan in Marvel Studios’ MS. MARVEL, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.
Marya Bangee is the Vice President over at RISE, and she certainly has an interesting background. A graduate of the University of California Irvine, Mrs. Bangee was most recently the leader of a company called Harness which worked to generate “gender justice” in the entertainment industry through collaborations and iteration with corporate leaders and activists.
Bangee also has a past that may give some folks pause. For example, in 2007 Bangee is recorded as having said “We’re not against Jews, we’re against Zionists.” For those of you who might not know, that would mean that Mrs. Bangee was very publicly against those who advocate for the continuation of the existence of Israel (at least that’s the traditional meaning of “Zionist”). The statements grow far more worrisome looking into additional quotes from that time period in her life:
According to a 2007 article from Forward:
Bangee, who is also communications director of MSA West, said that the person who spoke to demonstrators outside the Pipes speech was a former student who was “speaking as an individual.” Referring to the speaker’s remark about wiping out Israel, Bangee said, “He was talking about the political apparatus of Israel, not the people there. I don’t think anybody condones the mass murder of thousands of people.”
She said that her club has invited Ali to campus “more than once because of the fact that he represents a viewpoint that is not normally represented in the mainstream. He is somebody that stands behind his words rather than just speaks. There are definitely statements that he makes that we would not agree with.”But she expressed skepticism regarding charges that Ali is antisemitic.
“Anything that is antisemitic is really wrong. We don’t stand for hate-speech whatsoever,” she said. “I personally have not heard anything where he has said anything along that line. I think sometimes some of the things he says get taken out of context.”
Marya Bangee via OnTheRedCarpet YouTube
READ: Disney CEO Bob Iger Says It Is Not The Company’s Job “To Advance Any Kind Of Agenda”
The Ali individual defended by Bangee in the article is Amir-Abdel Malik-Ali, and according to Discover the Networks is a supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah. From the site:
A fervent admirer of the famed Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X, Malik-Ali is a leader of the As-Sabiqun movement which is inspired by Malcolm’s work and life. He is also part of the Al-Masjid movement which is dedicated to creating an Islamic revolution in the United States. His ultimate goal is to see Islamic law instituted in America, and he refers to those who oppose this objective as “poop-butts.” “From an Islamic movement we graduate to an Islamic revolution,” he says, “then to an Islamic state. . . . We must implement Islam as a totality [in which] Allah controls every place — the home, the classroom, the science lab, the halls of Congress.”
Malik-Ali is a favorite guest speaker of UC Irvine’s Muslim Student Union (MSU). In 2002, he told an MSU audience: “Israel wants Palestinians to have their own state. It’s beyond that now. No. That’s off the table. One state. Majority rules. Us. The Muslims.”
Marya Bangee via CMX YouTube
In 2019, Bangee was deeply intertwined with the entertainment industry, as well as appearing at events featuring trans community leaders, Black Lives Matters founders, Muslim “ban” detractors, etc. She bragged that companies like NBC were told by her group at the time, “You’re going to pay us and we’re going to pay our communities.” This was revealed during a panel she participated in called “the Road to Decolonization” — and, of course, decolonization often refers to the attempts to eradicate European / white culture.
Bangee has also been deeply involved in pushing something called “Gender Justice” in the entertainment industry. In 2020 she participated in a highly political video conference where she laid out her thoughts on gender equity and anti-racism, not only in entertainment, but also at the ballot box.
According to On the Red Carpet, Bangee’s RISE Department is so influential at The Walt Disney Company that she literally oversees every production the company has at any given time; even to the point of having significant control and input. That’s often over two-hundred productions at any given time over the full span of the company. And every single one of those productions seems to be under the watchful eye of someone who appears to have an extremely partisan and controversial world view over the last two decades.
Perhaps it is no wonder that Disney has gone so far in a particular ideological direction with many of its entertainment offerings!
As vice president of representation and inclusion strategies at the Walt Disney Studios, some of Marya Bangee’s responsibilities include overseeing hundreds of film productions from company entities such as Twentieth Century Studios, Pixar, Marvel Entertainment, Lucasfilm and more.
Given the apparent views of Bangee, and their strong connection with what many would call the extreme left, it begs the question about even what types of Muslim adherents would be allowed to receive the grants mentioned at the beginning of this article. Beyond just the ethical issues one might have regarding a publicly-traded corporation gifting young people tremendous support for religious beliefs, a reasonable question might be whether or not particular doctrinal beliefs within the religion might provide weight upon who is gifted such monies and support. And then, of course, there’s the issue of equity and/or equality. Is Disney gifting huge sums of money to young Jewish writers? What about Christians? What about Hindus? Taoists? The idea of Muslims being a minority in need of special financial support doesn’t seem supported in consideration of the fact Islam is the second-largest religion in the world. So why is it that a department led by a Muslim woman is bestowing unrestricted grant money from Disney to those who share her particular faith?
Bob Iger via New York Times Events YouTube
This is just the beginning of our look into the RISE program at Disney. Much as Reimagine Tomorrow represents a deeply ideological, partisan, anti-conservative, anti-traditional activism within the company, RISE appears to be even more so. We’ll keep investigating this and we look forward to discovering what else has been going on at a company that was supposed to be interested in creating entertainment for the widest swath of consumers possible.
If you are a person with knowledge of Reimagine Tomorrow and/or RISE and can share your information in an ethical, legal and moral way, we’d love to hear from you. For more information on Marya Bangee and her connections with Disney and University of California Irvine, see the original press release.
For all the news that should be fun, keep reading That Park Place. As always, drop a comment down below!
Come on, Iger Company! You have to offer the same program to young people of other religions. Their ideas and dreams have the right to be represented also. By the way, did anyone discuss this program with the shareholders??
Thanks WDW. You’re one the few people on these site with some journalistic acumen, and a willingness to dig. Along with Mr. F. Trent. I find myself here a little more than BiC anymore.