Disney Must Cease Sexual Harassment in The Bachelorette

LOS ANGELES (October 21, 2020) – The Parents Television Council called out Disney for allowing blatant sexual harassment to occur on ABC’s The Bachelorette in its October 20th episode rated TV-PG. The male contestants on the show were forced to strip during a dodgeball game, with some contestants expressing clear discomfort. (View here.)

“Asking television contestants to strip naked sounds like it would come at the direction of Harvey Weinstein, not from Walt Disney-owned ABC. Such programming is outrageously tone-deaf, especially as Hollywood continues its reckoning in the #MeToo era. If anyone in a position of authority in corporate America asked his/her employees to strip in order to keep their jobs, the executive would be fired. But Disney not only enables The Bachelorette to do just that, it promotes the show, rates the program as appropriate for young children (TV-PG), and ostensibly encourages – and even celebrates – blatant sexual harassment,” said PTC President Tim Winter.

“Disney’s corporate schizophrenia is astonishing. While it adds warning slates in front of its classic movies about culturally insensitive content, the company is more than comfortable fostering sexually exploitative content without any such consideration. We call on Disney and the producers behind The Bachelorette immediately to cease this – and any other demonstration – of sexual harassment, and to stop asking audiences to be entertained by it.”