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Disney's push for diversity and inclusion has received another blow as one of its senior executives has quit the company.
Latondra Newton, who worked as senior vice president and chief diversity officer at The Walt Disney Company, has decided to move on to "other endeavors" after six years in the role. The company announced it would be looking to hire a replacement for her.
Newton was at the helm in 2020 when the entertainment powerhouse launched Reimagine Tomorrow, a platform designed to amplify underrepresented voices and untold stories.
Disney's chief human resources officer, Sonia Coleman, announced Newton's departure in a memo to staff on Tuesday.
"I'm writing to share the news that Latondra Newton has decided to leave The Walt Disney Company to pursue other endeavors," Coleman wrote in the memo as reported by Variety.
"Since joining the company in 2017, Latondra has led the company's strategic diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, including partnering with stakeholders across the enterprise to amplify stories of the world by people around the world," it said. "She has been dedicated to ensuring every person sees themselves and their life experiences represented in a meaningful and authentic way."
During her tenure on the Diversity and Inclusion team, Newton co-signed a letter to employees alongside CEO Bob Chapek and executive chairman, Bob Iger, at the height of civil unrest following the 2020 murder of George Floyd at the hands of police in Memphis.
"The recent killing of George Floyd as well as other instances of lethal attacks and harassment of unarmed black citizens in our nation continue to drive outrage and calls for action by people of all cultural backgrounds, including many of our employees," the trio's letter read.
They also promised to commit to "real change" at Disney and through its media output.
"We intend to focus our efforts and resources to compassionately and constructively talk about these matters openly and honestly as we seek solutions. We intend to keep the conversation going, not just today, but for as long as it takes to bring about real change," the letter concluded.
While Newton is leaving Disney to reportedly take on another corporate board role, it comes at a time when the multinational is struggling with its efforts to balance inclusivity and profit making.
The live-action remake of 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid flopped spectacularly in China and has only made a paltry $3,251,874 at the box office there in almost one month since its release. That pales in comparison to more recent live-action Disney remakes including 2019's The Lion King, which brought in $54.7 million on its opening weekend alone in China. Aladdin, which was also released in 2019, made $18.7 million on its opening weekend.
Some experts have partly blamed racism for The Little Mermaid's poor performance in China, because Disney cast Black singer Halle Bailey in the lead role of Ariel. But they also pointed out that many Western films have not done particularly well in China in recent years, as a sense of nationalism can drive box office sales there.
"From what I have heard and seen, it is not Halle Bailey's race per se that people are unhappy with, rather it is that the familiar, red-headed hero has been subverted in the cause of 'political correctness,' a cause that is quite alien to Chinese people, who do not share the same kind of sensitivities," Jonathan Sullivan, director of China Programs at the University of Nottingham in England told Newsweek.
"If fantasies are to become vehicles for political agendas, then to be successful they need to resonate," he said. "Hence the burgeoning oeuvre of Chinese films that depict how China wants to see itself—wolf warrior and the like."
Disney also declined to make cuts to its animated 2022 film Lightyear after Chinese censors expressed disapproval of a same-sex kiss that appeared in the film. As a result the prequel to the Toy Story franchise did not premiere in China at all.
More recently, Disney's Pixar film Elemental was mocked for its representation of the first nonbinary character in a Disney film. The movie, which is out now in cinemas, depicts a nonbinary character who is not a human, drawing criticism from social media users. That film also flopped on its first weekend in the U.S., raking in only $29.5 million.
The multinational company is engaged in a culture war closer to home, as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had set his sights on Disney World Orlando after the company publicly spoke out against his "Don't Say Gay Bill."
In 2022, after pressure from its thousands of staff at Disney World, the company condemned DeSantis' law that bans the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in certain grades at Florida schools.
The governor tried to strip Disney of its special rights status on the land where Disney World Orlando is located, known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District.
Disney has essentially been its own self-governing authority on the land for more than 50 years, benefitting from a raft of social privileges and tax breaks.
DeSantis tried to install a handpicked five-person board that would oversee decisions on the area of land, only to be outmaneuvered by Disney, which signed a deal with their predecessors in February allowing it to remain self-governing.
About the writer
Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more