Disney Must Improve its Tarnished Image, Says PTC

LOS ANGELES (February 7, 2023) – The Parents Television and Media Council (PTC) said that Disney must earn back the trust of parents and families in order to find success.

“As Disney prepares to announce its quarterly earnings this week, the reality is that Disney has lost the trust of parents and that impacts every area of its business,” said Melissa Henson, vice president of the Parents Television and Media Council. “Disney’s shift over the past few years to programming that sexualizes children is simply a huge concern for parents and one that parents do not want to support.”

“Disney-owned Hulu features PEN15, a program that has depicted a teenage girl masturbating in front of her laptop computer.

“Disney-owned Hulu produced and distributed a television program, A Teacher, that centers on a steamy, sordid ‘romance' between a high school teacher and one of her students.

“Disney produced a cartoon, Little Demon, for one of its cable networks that focuses on a teenager who is the love child from a fling her mother had with the devil. In just the first three 30-minute episodes, PTC research found sexual content including animated female frontal nudity (no pixilation), vulgar slang references to male and female genitalia, vile sexual innuendo, a main character who gets turned-on by violent sex. We counted 173 instances of explicit language including 38 f-words and 35 s-words (all unbleeped); 45 instances of violence including graphic, gory violence such as heads exploding and bodies being mutilated and dismembered; all along with occult imagery, Christian-bashing, and drug use.

“Disney used to be the most trusted entertainment brand. It still can be, but it needs to divest its programming that sexualizes children and improve its tarnished business practices in this area,” Henson said.