© Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty ImagesKarey Burke in 2019
President of Disney General Entertainment Content Karey Burke emphasized the importance of Disney reaching the LGBT audience in a clip posted on Thursday, the latest as the corporation pushes back against Florida legislation prohibiting discussions of gender and sexuality in early education settings.
"When I was at Freeform, it was very much in the brand ethos of Freeform to be the tip of the spear when it comes to inclusion. And we, like you, Latoya [Raveneau], we jumped up and down, we celebrated that," Burke said in a clip posted by activist and writer Christopher Rufo. "Nobody stopped us and it felt great. In part, I think nobody stopped us because we were targeting Gen Z and millennials. We were targeting a younger, I think, more open-minded, and now we know, as my son texted me this morning, 'Gen Z is 30-40% queerer than the other generations, Mom, so Disney better get with it.'"
Disney has worked to appeal to the LGBT community through some of its lesser-known platforms for several years. Freeform, previously known as ABC Family, was declared the "Gayest Network on Television" by GLAAD in 2018. Freeform has released multiple LGBT-focused programs since 2018, including The Thing About Harry and Everything's Going to Be Okay.
Burke was an executive at Freeform from 2014 until 2018 before becoming ABC Entertainment Group's president in 2018.
The video of Burke was released as part of a series of clips posted by Rufo on Thursday. Other videos showed Proud Family executive producer Latoya Raveneau identifying as a "bi-romantic asexual," a "black, queer, and trans" person asking the company for accountability, and Disney CEO Bob Chapek apologizing and promising to be a better ally to the LGBT community. The full footage of Disney's meeting has not been released as of Friday.
Burke came under scrutiny on March 30 when Rufo posted a similar clip of her speaking about her "two queer children" who identify as pansexual and transgender, saying that she wanted to see more LGBT leads.
Disney has been targeted by conservatives over its response to Florida's early education legislation. Several Republicans are taking aim at Disney's copyright claims to Mickey Mouse, a long-standing legal quirk whereby the company mascot has been exempt from copyright expiration procedures over the course of several decades.
An estimated 7% of people in the United States identify as members of the LGBT community, according to a February 2022 Gallup poll. More than 20% of Generation Z identifies as LGBT, with the majority of those respondents declaring themselves bisexual.
Comment: So Kary Burke is fine with ruining a legendary brand, to cater to just 7% of the overall population, and apparently at the advice of her (gay? queer?) son. Disney may well have signed its death warrant. Gen Z will not be able to keep such a behemoth afloat.