No Disney Magic Here, Just Hypocrisy

“The Mouse House Has Become a Cathedral of Smiling Hate”

Washington, D.C. – Disney CEO Bob Chapek was challenged today by conservative activists who demanded an explanation as to why “The Mandalorian” co-stars Gina Carano and Pedro Pascal received vastly different treatment for similar social media posts.

Multiple representatives of the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project (FEP) queued via telephone to participate in the question-and-answer session of the Walt Disney Company’s virtual 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. David Almasi, vice president of the National Center, was able to address Chapek during that allotted time.

David Almasi

David W. Almasi

“It’s clear there’s a new blacklist punishing conservatives in the entertainment industry,” Almasi told Chapek. “Disney+ actors Pedro Pascal and Gina Carano tweeted similar analogies of current political events to Nazi Germany, yet only Carano – who is considered conservative – was fired from ‘The Mandalorian.’ Disney and the blacklist: This is the way?”

“I don’t really see Disney as characterizing itself as left-leaning or right-leaning, yet instead standing for values, values that are universal,” responded Chapek, twisting his response to praise his company’s diversity goals rather than addressing the Carano controversy.

“I think that’s a world we all should live in, in harmony and peace,” Chapek concluded.

“Disney CEO Bob Chapek was quick to throw around words like ‘respect’ and ‘inclusion’ with shareholders, but he couldn’t explain how two actors on the same show said similar things but were treated substantially differently,” Almasi commented after the meeting. “It’s because he can’t. It’s obviously because Gina Carano is labelled a conservative, Pedro Pascal is a leftist and Disney is part of the Hollywood blacklist.”

Almasi’s footnoted question is available here. Audio of the exchange between Almasi and Chapek is available here.

Scott Shepard

Scott Shepard

“It’s a shame that the Mouse House has become a cathedral of smiling hate,” added FEP Deputy Director Scott Shepard, who also participated in today’s meeting. “You cannot be a champion of diversity and inclusion while you actively discriminate against Americans purely on the basis of viewpoint and political participation. Joe McCarthy would be very proud of Disney CEO Bob Chapek and former CEO Bob Iger, but that’s hardly something that Disney would wish to tout. The great irony is that their actions are demonstrating that Gina Carano’s concerns were entirely justified. That’s also the great evil.”

Shepard was still in the queue when questions were cut off, but he was prepared to ask Chapek about the company’s apparent double standard regarding civil liberties. His question, as prepared for delivery, is available here.

“The evil grows deeper when we remember that Disney filmed ‘Mulan’ in Xinjiang, China, near the concentration camps where Uyghur Muslims are being systemically abused, and thanked the provincial government for the privilege,” said Shepard. “This is not an honorable organization. It actively tramples on civil liberties at home while turning a blind eye to civil atrocities just down the road from its international projects.”

Almasi noted that Disney’s track record isn’t much better on American soil.

“Disney hired back director James Gunn after he made horrific sexual tweets. Disney is reportedly negotiating for a Joss Whedon television series after he’s been accused of on-set sexual harassment,” he pointed out. “To its credit, Disney did engage with actor John Boyega after he claimed the Star Wars franchise in which he starred was racist. It’s a shame it could not now give a conservative-leaning actor a fair hearing.”

Launched in 2007, the National Center’s Free Enterprise Project focuses on shareholder activism and the confluence of big government and big business. Over the past four years alone, FEP representatives have participated in over 100 shareholder meetings – advancing free-market ideals about health care, energy, taxes, subsidies, regulations, religious freedom, food policies, media bias, gun rights, workers’ rights and other important public policy issues. As the leading voice for conservative-minded investors, it annually files more than 90 percent of all right-of-center shareholder resolutions. Dozens of liberal organizations, however, annually file more than 95 percent of all policy-oriented shareholder resolutions and continue to exert undue influence over corporate America.

FEP activity has been covered by media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Variety, the Associated Press, Bloomberg, Drudge Report, Business Insider, National Public Radio and SiriusXM. FEP’s work is prominently featured in Stephen Soukup’s new book The Dictatorship of Woke Capital: How Political Correctness Captured Big Business (Encounter Books) and Kimberley Strassel’s 2016 book The Intimidation Game: How the Left is Silencing Free Speech (Hachette Book Group).

The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank. Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, less than four percent from foundations and less than two percent from corporations. It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from over 60,000 active recent contributors. Sign up for email updates here. Follow us on Twitter at @FreeEntProject and @NationalCenter for general announcements. To be alerted to upcoming media appearances by National Center staff, follow our media appearances Twitter account at @NCPPRMedia.



The National Center for Public Policy Research is a communications and research foundation supportive of a strong national defense and dedicated to providing free market solutions to today’s public policy problems. We believe that the principles of a free market, individual liberty and personal responsibility provide the greatest hope for meeting the challenges facing America in the 21st century.