Pop Spotlight

Over the weekend, a bunch of right-wing protesters tried their hardest to stick it to Disney and disrupt the giant corporation’s massive theme park business by hanging outside one of several entrances to Disney World.

The protest, which featured anywhere from “several” to “dozens” of people, per local news reports, took place this past Saturday, April 16. It was part of an ongoing effort to attack Disney after the company came out against Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, with protesters throwing out wildly unsubstantiated claims that the entertainment giant supports grooming kids. 

The protest itself took place outside one of handful of entrances to Disney World, this one at the scenic intersection of Hotel Plaza Blvd and Florida State Road 535. Per one very proud-of-himself protester on social media, the “Patriot Convoy” managed to engineer a “blockade” in front of the entrance, as if there weren’t plenty of other ways to get in. 

To boot, the closest major Disney World “attraction” to the entrance where the protesters set up wasn’t Magic Kingdom, or even EPCOT. It was Disney Springs, a glorified shopping district boasting such can’t-miss sites as a Planet Hollywood and a Zara. 

Saturday’s protest came as the far-right ramped up its attacks on Disney after the company took its sweet time speaking out against the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed at the end of March. The bill bans classroom discussion on sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade, and broadly prohibits discussions further unless they meet an age appropriateness criteria. The law also gives parents the right to sue over alleged violations. 

Since Disney voiced its support for the bill, the company has become a major right-wing punching bag. Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham have repeatedly slammed the company as “woke,” while Gov. DeSantis has threatened to repeal its corporate status in the state as a self-governing entity. Meanwhile, some factions and figures on the right have gone full Satanic panic, with groundless claims linking the company to child trafficking and grooming accusations.