Hollywood is prepping for its biggest night of the year at the Oscars on Sunday, but chaos at Disney is already looming large over the event – with internal discord and an escalating employee backlash at the Mouse House threatening to spoil the party.
Disney is scrambling to contain the fallout over its response to a Florida bill that would bar teachers from discussing LGBTQ topics like sexual orientation or gender identity with students unless they’re in the fourth grade or higher.
The issue prompted an internal battle among company employees who are divided on whether Disney should get political.
Left-leaning employees staged walkouts this week, arguing the company failed the LGBT community by initially failing to denounce the bill.
A separate group of conservative employees urged the company to stay “politically neutral” – arguing Disney has created an “environment of fear” for workers who don’t adhere to “progressive orthodoxy.”
