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During its feud with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the most common barb thrown at the Walt Disney Company was that it had “gone woke.” The Florida Governor even went so far as to accuse the Walt Disney Company of “grooming” and “sexualizing” children.
In 2022, Disney faced even more backlash when it removed gender requirements for characters at the Walt Disney World Resort and the Disneyland Resort.
Credit: Spectrum News
Less than a year after Disney made that announcement, a video went viral of a biological male playing the role of one of Fairy Godmother’s Apprentices at the Bibbidi Boddidi Boutique. Disney faced immediate backlash for that decision, including several social media users calling for a boycott of Disney World and Disneyland.
Despite the end of the feud with Governor DeSantis, Disney is still facing backlash for its decision to include characters at meet-and-greets whose biological sex does not match that of the traditional character. That backlash took off this week after a video surfaced from a family’s trip to the Story Book Dining at Artist Point at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge within Walt Disney World Resort.
The video itself is relatively benign. In it, the family meets Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and takes viewers through their entire $300 meal.
However, near the end of the video, the family encounters the Evil Queen. It is a quick interaction, as the mother tells the Evil Queen they are her favorite evil character.
The backlash came from the comments, as one person asked, “Why is that dude playing the Evil Queen?” Viewers took that comment as fact and ran with it, questioning why Disney World would have a biological male playing a traditional female character.
It is unclear if the cast member in question is a male or a female. However, users on X (formerly Twitter) called for a boycott of Disney World for having a man play the Evil Queen character.
A family has reached out to That Park Place claiming they spent over $300 on a character meet and greet dinner at Walt Disney World… only to discover the Evil Queen character was almost certainly a biological male. This represents the first time we've heard of Disney using a… pic.twitter.com/jHRt64wl4O
— wdwpro (@wdwpro1) April 23, 2024
Despite the calls for a boycott, many comments were very supportive of the cast member, including those who pointed out that Disney Parks have hired men to play female villains for years. Other users pointed out this is a fairy tale character and not real.
Despite the controversy, the family who shot the video appeared to have a good time at the character dining experience and enjoyed meeting the Evil Queen.
What do you think about Disney World hiring a man to play the Evil Queen?
This post originally appeared on Inside the Magic.
Nope! Not a fan!
I’ve personally worked in Disney Entertainment and don’t think that looks like a man at all! Conservatives are absolutely ridiculous! So just because a woman happens to have a deeper voice, is tall, and doesn’t have a willowy figure she’s now automatically a man?! WTAF?! Y’all need to check yourselves and get a life! 🙄🤦🏼♀️
Why the fuck is this news? To start… Men have played women in theaters around the world since Shakespeare was alive. The Evil Queen is iconic in this video. If you don’t like how Disney does things, don’t go. Everyone will be just fine without your hating asses.
So, another job tailored for a woman, taken by a man. Walt himself would not go for this. No…I didn’t know him, but I know of his history and this is nothing meant for normal families.
This belongs in the basement clubs of NYC and SFC.
So now men play women better than women! Awesome Disney! You bunch of soulless morons just keep chipping away at Walt’s legacy and dragging down into the muck and mire. Awesome work guys!
I think it is disgusting, we don’t want our children/grandchildren being exposed to such woke baloney! What you e:il people have done to good family values and Walt’s dreams and memory!
What a ridiculous thing to be concerned about. The Queen of Hearts is almost always played by a man, and I would be willing to bet that every dwarf they met was played by a woman. These cast members are actors and actors play roles.
Chipping away women from roles…..hmmm a woman could have been hired? Now men get jobs over a woman for a female role.
I can’t believe as a women everything is being taken away from us. Women are not asked if men can come into ladies rooms, as long as a man says he identifies as a women he can enter. Back in the day women were not allowed to play parts on stage, they were played by men. Now Disney is giving men our parts. Men can play in women’s sports but no one asked the female athletes how they feel about all the training they went through and parents money to compete against a biological man whose muscles are more developed . We are going backwards in women’s rights and clearly Disney is run by men who do not care or understand women’s rights and struggles for equality and clearly we do not have a say anymore.
I don’t think there should be any change! Leave the women roles to bio women! Disney I cant stand you anymore!!
Female characters should be portrayed by females! I can’t imagine why Disney would use a man when I am sure there are plenty of women who could fill the roll
I met this Queen while dining at Story Book in February, and was pretty disappointed that Disney that this was a good idea. Not only were they pretty obviously a man, but they weren’t even a good Evil Queen. The makeup was spot on, everything else very tepid and boring.
Iger and his team are the absolute worst in company history. I wish they were all gone.