This article takes no position on the legitimacy, validity, morality, or need for the Disney Walkout group and movement. Rather, this article examines the level of participation and the likely result for Disney’s operations going forward.
It brings me great pleasure to go to the various entertainment and theme park websites, including That Park Place, and see that we’re getting back to some degree of business as usual. It’s not that I am against politics or social movements. No, not at all! However, the mixture of Disney — an entertainment company that acts as a gatekeeper some of our most culturally important stories — and controversial politics has put me in the awkward spot of trying to call balls and strikes in a domain that I don’t wish to enter. I want to write about roller coasters and new shows; I don’t want to write about The Walt Disney Company taking a controversial position on breast removal surgery for young teenagers. Nobody wins when we’re in that position. Disney investors don’t win, neutral observers don’t win, fans don’t win… and ultimately, even the ideologues that push for it don’t win. We can see that now.
The goal for the Disney Walkout group was simple. They wanted Disney to face day-after-day of fifteen minute walkouts from employees supporting punishment for the state of Florida over their legislation that prevents gender fluidity and sexual orientation curriculum. A reader sent me a copy of Illinois’ curriculum in this area… one of the standards in their curriculum is to have elementary students recognize the different forms of penetration. That’s the sort of thing that the Florida legislation prevents. While I am not an attorney, one of our writers on TPP is, and it doesn’t seem to me that the Florida legislation prevents any sort of conversation or condones any type of shaming for a kindergartner with two mommies or two daddies. Perhaps the framing by opponents of the bill is not fully accurate? Back to Disney Walkout, however: after the days of fifteen minute walkouts, the big day was yesterday, March 22nd, and they were calling for a full-day walkout protest (they even had instructions for the hours — 8AM to 6PM).
The LGBTQIA+ workers and allies at The Walt Disney Company are standing in solidarity together over the coming weeks. Here is our open statement and website.https://t.co/hdvFds7Bw6
Petition: https://t.co/B6OWRGmlTF#DisneyDoBetter #DisneySayTrans #DisneySayGay #WhereIsChapek pic.twitter.com/uhQLMl5FJG— Disney Walkout (@DisneyWalkout) March 14, 2022
Given the revelation that Disney Walkout was being at least advised by parts of Disney leadership, this was a movement with some serious backing. The statements have the appearance of professional legalese, the website has a system for creating back-channel communication lines between employees, and some of their art assets look professionally done.
And yet… as close to nothing happened as can occur without being called literally “nothing.”
In the state of Florida, where Disney Walkout claimed that Disney LGBTQIA+ employees were having their human rights damaged, a total of one single person showed up to protest or “walkout” in the entire state. For context, that’s less than you might find on a normal day when there is no national social media push backed by celebrities and Disney subsidiary accounts.
Image Courtesy: WMFE
In fact, the situation was so minuscule that media outlets had to resort to using a photo of an unrelated protest in 2019 to run headlines like “Disney Producer Says ‘Bold’ Action Needed Against Homophobia After Walkout” by Newsweek. The fact that it was one single person protesting in the entire state of Florida was mostly kept secret by the mainstream press.
It doesn’t get much better in California for opponents of the Florida legislation. Yes, there were some brief walkouts in which Disney employees did a couple of laps on a sidewalk. A few studios came out and did a quick photo op. But as for a full-day walkout that was called for… there was none. Disneyland employees didn’t even protest near the property at all and park operations weren’t affected in any way. The people who did a couple of laps on a sidewalk or did a group photo also didn’t directly address the Florida law or affirm any of the Disney Walkout demands. The closest we got to that was a small group chanting “say gay” in their fifteen minute sidewalk jaunt.
That leads to an awkward situation where the Disney Walkout folks and the Disney leadership groups inside it have almost nothing at all they can even use to “claim” a victory. Take a look:
Lucasfilm walkout!
Time to watch The Last Jedi again, because this is a movement of leaders. Anyone can be powerful. No one owns the (labor) force besides ourselves.#DisneyDoBetter #DisneySayTrans#DisneySayGay #DisneyWalkout #WhereIsChapek pic.twitter.com/6yXYEmk3Xi
— Disney Walkout (@DisneyWalkout) March 23, 2022
A total of twenty-two Lucasfilm employees took a group photo, then returned to work.
Walt Disney Animation Studios walkout today! They couldn't "let it go"! 🥁#DisneyDoBetter #DisneySayTrans #DisneySayGay #DisneyWalkout #WhereIsChapek pic.twitter.com/SbTpanljSv
— Disney Walkout (@DisneyWalkout) March 23, 2022
About one-hundred Disney Animation employees took a group photo and returned to work.
Disneyland employees staged their walkout safely off campus today.
They joined in on writing letters of affirmation to the LGBTQIA+ children and families in FL effected by the bill.
Solidarity! ❤️#DisneyDoBetter #DisneySayTrans #DisneySayGay #DisneyWalkout #WhereIsChapek pic.twitter.com/2yYL1Sl8CM
— Disney Walkout (@DisneyWalkout) March 22, 2022
Because there was no Disneyland protest whatsoever, it was suggested that Disneyland cast members avoided Disneyland Resort or proximity out of “safety” needs.
What a day so far! Thank you all so much for the resounding support. It means the world to us.
Lots still coming in, but a special shout out right now to Pixar for this amazing pic of solidarity.#DisneyDoBetter #DisneySayTrans #DisneySayGay #DisneyWalkout #WhereIsChapek pic.twitter.com/BzvjfVabPC
— Disney Walkout (@DisneyWalkout) March 22, 2022
Pixar had about thirty-two employees take a group photo. Other employees can be seen not joining in and casually sitting at tables behind.
We estimate that in total, based on the evidence, around 260 Disney employees participated in a demonstration of some kind. We estimate that, based on the evidence, a total of 0 employees participated the protests outlined by Walkout Disney (8AM – 6PM leaving work). We come up with that number based on the photo evidence and the video evidence of maybe 100 students doing a lap on the concrete in Burbank.
Hundreds of Disney employees walking out at company HQ in Burbank #DisneyWalkout pic.twitter.com/n9QpNmAHIf
— Steve Desaulniers (@steve_desaul) March 22, 2022
For context, The Walt Disney Company has 203,000 employees.That means that on March 22nd, the total percentage of Disney employees participating in any demonstration of any sort amounted to 0.0012% of Disney’s workforce.
It did, however, earn a rare rebuke in written-form from Disney’s conservative employees. If that group mirrors society’s percentages, that would be about 40% of Disney’s workforce (estimating that 20% are moderate and 40% are liberal).
Whatever you may think of the Disney Walkout movement and its merits, or lack thereof, there is no way to see this other than a tremendous failure. And for TWDC executives, they have to be wondering why exactly they took an official position on sex changes for children in Texas if the number of employees ready to walkout for a full day is exactly zero. The number willing to take a group photo doesn’t rise much higher.
Ultimately, it would seem that the company continuing to moderate will be the result of all this. They’ll do a “listening tour” with no publicity. They’ll quietly shuffle the LGBTQ+ content for children task force off into a side cubicle somewhere in a basement. The lesson for Disney here is, they can do a bit of virtue signaling and that will be sufficient. Not even their most ardent and left-leaning employees will mostly participate in any sort of cost-associated protest. So why should they not return to their previous desire to moderate the company and get away from politics as fast as possible? It would seem there is no louder message for that than what we just witnessed yesterday.
So in my mind, that’s a wrap. Even if there is more out of the Disney Walkout group, until they prove they can attract an actual movement, they’re quite small in regards to influence. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, but make sure they’re polite. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
