Things could be getting messy for The Walt Disney Company as the House of Mouse deals with leaked information out of Chinese concentration camps — and specifically the same concentration camp that Disney filmed near for the making of Mulan. You may recall that Disney subsequently thanked the Chinese local government for their help in filming: the same local government that runs the camp.
For more context, The Walt Disney Company has since pulled all operations out of Russia over human rights abuses incurred as part of the war in Ukraine. However, the concentration camp information vetted by more than ten international news agencies paints a picture that is at least as bad in China. There’s just one problem for Disney: they cannot uproot their massive theme park investments in China and could forfeit those properties without compensation if they frustrate the Chinese Communist Party through criticism.
The material is unprecedented on several levels:
1. High-level speeches, implicating top leadership and containing blunt language2. Camp security instructions, far more detailed than China Cables, describe heavily armed strike units with battlefield assault rifles pic.twitter.com/tQUSXJU0pF
— Adrian Zenz (@adrianzenz) May 24, 2022
The youngest person confirmed to be in a re-education camp is Rahile Omer, age 14 when she was detained, nearly age 15 when her image was taken by the police. pic.twitter.com/Sr0W6Rf2aN
— Adrian Zenz (@adrianzenz) May 24, 2022
A second report of mine specifically on the speech by China's Minister of Public Security, implication Beijing and Xi in the campaign of mass internment, is published by @ChinaFile:https://t.co/PpnJyTz0h4
— Adrian Zenz (@adrianzenz) May 24, 2022
In regards to filming Mulan near the same concentration camp being revealed through leaks today, in which people are being executed in mass and treated miserably, current TWDC CFO Christine McCarthy had the following to say:
“I’m not a box-office prognosticator, but it has generated a lot of publicity,” she said. “Let me just put something into context. The real facts are that Mulan was primarily shot — almost in entirety — in New Zealand. In an effort to accurately depict some of the unique landscape and geography of the country of China for this period drama, we filmed scenery in 20 different locations in China. It’s common knowledge that, in order to film in China, you have to be granted permission. That permission comes from the central government.” — Christine McCarthy
McCarthy would later go on to clarify that it had caused the company “a lot of issues.” Still, starting a statement with the idea that filming near a Nazi-esque concentration camp generates a lot of publicity for the box-office… it isn’t a good look to say the least.
So has Disney spoken out about this?
Or are they only concerned about the “freedom” of Florida teachers to teach Kindergartens about gender identity?
— Zugly747 (@zugly747) May 24, 2022
All of this is to say that should these documents be further validated and should this be made known to the world… Disney could have an awfully tough time on their hands. That’s not to even mention the backlash supposedly manifesting against the company domestically could be put into overdrive. It’s not the sort of position a children’s entertainment company should be in but poor decisions by Bob Iger and weak corrective measures by Bob Chapek have led Mickey to this place.
If Disney isn’t quick to correct their past mistakes, it won’t just be South Park parodies they will have to contend with:
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