Thousands sign petition calling on Disney to remove sexually explicit content from kids' programming
More than 10,000 concerned parents, grandparents and other adults have signed a petition asking Disney’s board of directors to remove sexually-charged content in its children's programming and other entertainment platforms owned by the corporation.
Those who've signed the petition, spearheaded by the Parents Television and Media Council (PTC), are calling on Disney to “return to producing uplifting, clean, inspiring content that families can trust.” In a statement released Monday, PTC Vice President Melissa Henson elaborated on some of the concerning content in children’s programming produced by the behemoth entertainment corporation.
“A young female character performs a sex act on herself. A teacher and her minor student have an illicit, and illegal, sexual relationship that is romanticized. A female teen finds out her dad is the Antichrist. All of these are scenes and/or themes from programs that currently air on Disney-owned platforms. All are targeted toward our youth,” Henson lamented.
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Henson said the Disney board of directors don't seem to be taking action to address concerns about what children are being exposed to: “The Disney Board of Directors cannot stand idly by while the company produces and makes available sexually themed content targeted to children.”
“The board cannot dismiss rightful concerns by saying ‘you don’t have to watch it if you want to,’” she asserted. “Protecting children from exploitation is the job of every decent human being, and most assuredly, the job of a company whose name has been synonymous with family entertainment.”
“Disney has broken faith with America’s families by enabling sexualized and exploitative content on its Hulu streaming platform like 'PEN15' and 'A Teacher,' and on the FX and FXX cable channels with 'Little Demon.' It has broken promises to America’s families by adding R-rated content to the Disney+ streaming platform. And even Disney executives have been publicly exposed, openly admitting to their overt efforts to insert sexual themes into child-targeted programming.”
Henson proposed that Disney has the influence to begin to alleviate what thousands are petitioning against: “The Disney Board must work to restore the public’s trust in the integrity of the Disney brand by removing sexually themed programming from all of its platforms. That is the only way to make it again one of the most trusted brands in America, synonymous with child-safe, wholesome, and family-friendly content.”
Henson’s complaints on behalf of PTC are not the first public comments bringing into question the content Disney is producing for its younger audiences. In late March, the senior pastor of New York City’s V1 Church, Mike Signorelli, went viral for warning parents of the “demonic” content in Disney Pixar’s “Turning Red” in a video posted on YouTube and Facebook.
Despite Facebook and YouTube removing Signorelli’s video, it drew considerable public interest before it was removed from the platform. Signorelli said at the time that he believed his “Christian review” was removed because it featured scenes from the film.
The video, which was titled “Pastor Reacts To ‘Turning Red’ — Is It DEMONIC?” received over 100,000 views. The pastor’s video condemned the spiritual practices of ancestral worship and what he said looked like satanic rituals in “Turning Red.”
In an interview with CBN News, the pastor said he felt it was his duty to warn parents about the content in the movie. Warning that the movie spread a “secular humanistic worldview that says there is no wrong or right anymore,” Signorelli shared his belief that “every parent — not just a pastor, but a parent — has a mandate to actually screen material because every single device you have in your home is a portal, either a window into the things of God or, unfortunately, things that I believe are demonic.”
Signorelli expressed particular concern that “within the first eight minutes, you have chanting, communication with ancestors, and immediately a red flag should start to go off.” He asked parents to consider whether they wanted their children “to be exposed to this as a gateway and into maybe future adult interactions and beliefs with something that the Christian faith condemns.”
“We know in Hebrews 9:27, it’s appointed once to live and then to die, and we face judgment, and it’s strictly forbidden, in the Christian context, to communicate with the dead,” he noted.
In recent years, Disney’s “Family” branded streaming service Disney Plus began featuring six Marvel TV series with ratings of TV-MA, which means it started to include content for more mature audiences. Disney previously removed its entire Marvel collection from Netflix.
With the goal of giving its fans “access to more from the Marvel collection,” Disney Plus has added “Daredevil,” “Jessica Jones,” “Luke Cage,” “Iron Fist,” “The Defenders,” “The Punisher” and “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D” — some of which are rated TV-MA in the U.S. — to its streaming portfolio.
However, in an effort to safeguard young viewers, Disney Plus updated its parental controls in the U.S., giving users the ability to select the content rating restrictions for every profile and offering the use of a PIN to lock certain profiles.
Nicole Alcindor is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: nicole.alcindor@christianpost.com.
