Disney Doesn’t Want To Hire White Men, Company Veep in Alleged Undercover Video Says, Sparking Outrage, Calls for Boycotts
The Mickey Mouse company has previously been accused of discriminatory ‘woke’ hiring practices.
A senior vice president at Disney claims the company isn’t looking to hire or promote white males, according to a video that has sparked outrage among Elon Musk, Senator Lee of Utah, and the thousands of commenters calling for a boycott.
The video — which adds to the mounting allegations of Disney’s “woke policies” — allegedly shows a senior vice president and team lead at Disney, Michael Giordano, describing the company’s prejudice toward hiring and promoting white men.
The damning compilation, posted on X, prompted commenters to call for a boycott against the press conglomerate.
The post was also reshared by Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, who added, “this is messed up.”
Mr. Lee responded to the videos by warning of impending legal action.
“Disney’s lawyers will be busy. Very busy,” he wrote on X. “Because this Disney exec admitted to hiring (and not hiring) on the basis of race. As it turns out, that’s against the law. In fact, it has been for the last 60 years.”
In the video obtained by the O’Keefe Media Group, Mr. Giordano claims that, “As far as Disney’s concerned, I’m a white male. And that’s not who they’re looking to promote at the moment,”
When asked if he thinks that will be promoted to department head he responds, “I’m not sure to be honest with you,” even though he’s “well prepared” and “well positioned for it.”
He also describes how he was passed over for an internal promotion on several occasions because of his race, which he says was “told explicitly” to him.
“There are times when it’s spoken,” he says in reference to the alleged Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion practices.
His friends in Disney’s human resources department have told him plainly, “they’re not considering any white males for this job. They’re just not,” he says.
Though he claims that in official company communication, Disney will hide behind “code words and buzzwords” to disguise its discriminatory practices “so it’s not like a legally actionable thing,” he says.
Mr. Giordano also describes an incident in which the company chose to forgo promoting a half-Black employee because they didn’t look Black enough. “There was a creative executive who was like ‘we’re not, like, that’s not, that’s not what’s wanted,’” he says.
“They wanted somebody in meetings who would appear in a certain way and he wasn’t going to bring that to the meeting.”
Chief diversity officer Tinisha Agramonte, hired back in 2023, “oversees a lot of that, for sure,” he says, referencing the company’s discriminatory practices.
Though he adds that the policies aren’t just enforced by Ms. Agramonte, but “It’s pretty broad, I would say. There are other people in HR who are also focused on it.”
Executives are incentivized to uphold the biased hiring practices because the company will shell bigger bonuses to those who recruit more non-white employees, he adds.
This incident is not the first time that Disney has come under fire before for its DEI workplace policies.
Back in February, conservative non-profit America First Legal filed a complaint against the company for “unlawful racial discrimination,” claiming that “Disney admits and affirms that it knowingly and intentionally uses race, color, sex, or national origin as motivating factors in its employment practices.”
“Disney appears to be engaged in pervasive, far-reaching, and illegal race and sex discrimination in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act,” the organization’s president, Stephen Miller, stated.
“It is sad and tragic that a company whose name was once synonymous with wholesome and charming childhood fantasies is now dedicated to spreading divisive bigotry. We urge Disney to cease and desist its unlawful and destructive conduct at once,” he added.
The organization has also accused the company of producing “anti-police and anti-White content” in an effort to promote its “woke” political agenda, in a searing 50-page letter to Disney’s chief executive.
The “woke virtue signaling,” they allege, had impacted the company’s value and hurt its shareholders.
“People go to watch a movie or a show to be entertained,” billionaire investor Nelson Peltz told the Financial Times. “They don’t go to get a message.”
Mr. Peltz held a major stake in the company before selling his shares a few months ago, a sale which reportedly made him $1 billion richer.
The Walt Disney Company has not yet responded to the Sun’s request for comment.