Recently, the picture began to shift for Disney partly by choice and by force. In the Walt Disney Company's 2024 annual report, they quietly dropped their "Reimage Tomorrow" project and replaced it with "MyDisneyToday," a vague rebrand that swaps diversity quotas for words like "belonging" and "talent strategy" instead. Disney executives once received bonuses tied to DEI goals, but now they hinge on business outcomes and performance. The Walt Disney Company has even toned down its woke lingo in SEC filings. This hints at a pivot away from DEI policies and the social justice spotlight.
Most are probably wondering what is driving the Walt Disney Company in the opposite direction, and it is most likely a mix of political pressure, financial realities, and public pushback. Since President Trump's re-election, the political landscape in the U.S. has shifted as his administration has cracked down on federal DEI programs, which could explain the pivot across the U.S. Florida's 2023 takeover of Disney's Orlando district served as a warning while consumer boycotts and backlash have dented the company's image. Disney's recent box office flops and streaming struggles have been compounded by a fanbase where over half are families, not activists, making the DEI narrative less sustainable.
On March 28, 2025, the federal government got involved. President Trump appointed Brendan Carr, who is now leading the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to launch an investigation into the Walt Disney Company and its ABC subsidiary. Carr's probe questions whether the company's DEI practices violate FCC equal employment rules, such as its 50% diversity target and pay incentives tied to inclusion. In a letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger, Carr labeled Disney's DEI policies as "invidious discrimination," accusing Disney of prioritizing race and sexual orientation over merit. Because ABC's broadcasting licenses are under FCC oversight, Carr has leverage. Carr has hinted at blocking Disney's future mergers or renewals unless the company abolishes its woke playbook. Carr also targets other media companies such as Comcast, NBC Universal, and Paramount.
Many Americans, specifically families, might see this as a huge win; Disney is scaling back on its own, and the FCC is stepping in to ensure the company follows through. However, Disney has not completely scrapped its DEI policies entirely as its leaders still nod to diversity filings, and those Employees Resource Groups still exist and do not seem to be going anywhere. If Disney pushes against the FCC and claims their policies are legal, the situation could escalate, as Carr has already signaled that he would widen the investigation. For now, Disney stands at a crossroads. The company's DEI policies were a bold statement that has become a risk and liability.
Disney pushed the DEI initiatives into overdrive in 2020 during the George Floyd protests, as the company pledged $5 million to advance equity and social justice and to launch their "Reimage Tomorrow" program in 2021, aiming for 50% of characters in their shows and movies to come from underrepresented groups. They then had Employee Resource Groups to represent every conceivable identity and then bragged about their perfect scores from the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index. This was not a shift in focus, as the company was no longer selling timeless stories but peddling a narrative.
This felt like a betrayal from the family-friendly company as Disney was not just selling stories anymore, as they began to rewrite classic characters and stories while incorporating a woke ideological agenda to meet their DEI quotas. For example, LGBTQ themes crept into children's shows, which upset many parents and caused them to question Disney's content intended for children. In the summer of 2024, O'Keefe Media Group reported with undercover footage they had obtained of Walt Disney Television's Director of Production/Finance Sohrab Makker. In the footage, Makker admitted that the company tracks diversity metrics in annual reports, which notes an increase in diverse "cast members" (employees). He also claimed that Disney prioritizes LGBTQ stories for children, even when it feels forced, which has led to some shows flopping due to audience disconnect. Overall, the piece from O'Keefe Media Group frames revelations as exposing systemic issues within Disney's corporate culture.
Tensions also peaked in 2022 when Disney clashed with Florida Governor Ron Desantis over the state's "Don't Say Gay" bill, one of the many issues that caused Disney to receive criticism for its "woke" moves. This dispute between the state and the corporation played out for years, eventually causing the company to lose its tax-advantaged governing district, Walt Disney World.
Disney included DEI throughout multiple films with diverse casting, queer representation, and public opposition, which caused many Disney fans to boycott, and led to a declining stock value. Disney stock was at its peak in 2021 of $200 until late 2023, when it fell to $90. This tied to a broader market and streaming struggles that critics argued "woke" content hurt Disney films like The Marvels. This female-led focus film underperformed with a $110 million domestic haul against a $270 million budget, making it a record low for the MCU. Another example is the 2022 sci-fi animated children's film Strange World, featuring a biracial, openly gay teen lead. The film bombed, grossing $73.6 million against a $180 million budget, making it one of the studio's biggest flops. The film was quietly buried on Disney+ after receiving backlash and a $100 million loss.
The most recent film flop has been the Snow White remake starring Rachel Zeglar, as it has been labeled a financial and cultural flop. The film grossed a disappointing $87.3 million globally on its opening weekend against a $250 million production budget (excluding marketing), far below the $100 million projections. Zeglar's Snow White shifts from the classic story of a princess romantically dreaming and awaiting a handsome prince to a girlboss leader. "Someday My Prince Will Come" and True Love's Kiss were sidelined because they did not fit the narrative of female empowerment. Zeglar even went as far as referring to the original prince as a "stalker." The flop was not solely about "wokeness," as many box office analysts like Paul Degarabedian argued—it was also about poor execution and remake fatigue.
After facing backlash from parents in December 2024, Disney decided to pull a transgender storyline from the children's Pixar animated series, "Win or Lose," citing parental preferences to discuss such topics with children on their terms. Disney debuted "Win or Lose" with its first episode featuring an openly Christian character, Laurie. This marks the first explicitly Christian character in a Disney show in nearly 20 years. This move coincides with the recent cultural shift happening in America. A July 2024 Newsweek poll showed that 34% of viewers disapproved of Disney's prior LGBTQ+ content push. The article frames these changes as part of Disney's evolving audience expectations and political pressures. To many Disney fans, these films sacrifice character depth and plot conference just to check diversity boxes and alienate mainstream audiences that crave authenticity over agenda-driven content. While the nature and intent behind these films that incorporate DEI may be notable, their consistent underperformance suggests a disconnect between studio executives and the public—proving that good intentions alone cannot guarantee the public will watch it.
