Stelter Lets Guest Claim Secret GOP Conspiracy to Attack Disney

On Sunday’s Trustworthy Sources on CNN, host Brian Stelter continued his obsessive coverage of what he claims is the conservative’s media war against the Walt Disney company by bringing on Abigail Disney, the granddaughter of co-founder Roy Disney, to discuss the controversy surrounding her family’s company. 

“These GOP media stars can claim they are just protecting kids but they are also demonizing gay teachers and condemning inclusive Disney shows”Stelter stated before dismissing Disney criticisms as “a midterm campaign strategy for the GOP.”

After he had finished his anti-GOP rants, he went and asked Abigail Disney the non-objective question. “how do you feel when you see it [Disney]This child abuse indoctrination and cult is what it’s been called. 

Disney raised eyebrows right off the bat when she said she’s witnessing a “coordinated strategic plan unfolding” to attack her family’s company “because it’s so woven into families”And rolled out another conspiracy theory. “if you can create this idea that somebody is in there trying to indoctrinate your child, my goodness, the paranoid imagination can run circles with that.” 

Then, she said that she understood “why it’s been selected in this strategic — whatever strategic meeting they had for what they would turn to next.”

Stelter got her to clarify after she had finished talking. “when you say they have a strategy here, who are you referring to?” Disney’s response was to double down on her wild theory that the attacks on the Walt Disney company are a conspiracy by people meeting in secret: 

By them, I am referring to large funders for the right wing movement who like to keep quiet. They gather in meetings, and decide on the messages that resonate and those that don’t. That’s what we can’t pretend isn’t happening. So this Disney attack was timed so well and strategically rolled out that I found it hard to believe it wasn’t the result of several decisions made behind closed doors.

Stelter’s only response to that loony claim was to nod his head and say “I see.” He didn’t push back or tell her what she said is a pretty outlandish claim. Instead, he asked another question. 

Perhaps he didn’t push back on her conspiracy theory of “right wing movement” leaders meeting in secret meetings to decide to attack Disney because Stelter had his own crazy theory that “certain individuals [are] going full QAnon”They attacked Disney. 

You should note that neither the DeSantis administration in Florida nor anyone else in conservative movements at large criticized Walt Disney until they voted to oppose the Parental Rights in Education bill. So her theory doesn’t hold up under the slightest bit of scrutiny.  

Lincoln and Angi were able to make this delusional segment. You can link their information to let them know of the biased news that they finance.

Click expand to see the transcript for this segment.

CNN’s Reliable sources
4/10/2022
Eastern, 11:26:12

BRIAN STELTER:  Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed to the Supreme Court this week, a historic milestone for the U.S., but the process also showed how poisoned the country’s politics are. Joan Walsh wrote this column in The Nation that Republicans used her confirmation hearing as a way to promote the idea that Democrats are protecting pedophiles. This is a strategy for sexual panic aimed at November’s midterms and beyond. Quote, unquote: Child abuse. Grooming children for sexual predation is very popular in GOP media circles. Their opponents are being portrayed as either pro-pedophiles, or pedophiles. Some commentators want to link that terrible charge to Walt Disney Company. 

(…)

STELTER. These media celebrities of the GOP can say they protect children, but they also condemn gay teachers and demonize inclusive Disney shows. These are clearly midterm strategy strategies for Trump’s GOP, Fox NewsMax and NewsMax. Trump said at last night’s rally that public schools would replace reading and math by pronouns, and even gender studies. He also railed against government funding for quote and transgenderism. 

This is why liberals fear a loss in LGBTQ rights. The story is huge and Disney is just one of many. Abigail Disney is my granddaughter and co-founder Roy Disney. Although she has not been afraid to speak out against Disney, she has also spoken up for it. In this instance she has some words of praise for Disney and calls on the executives to be brave in facing criticism. Abigail, thank you for joining the program. 

ABIGAIL DISNEY : Totally satisfied.

STELTER – So what’s the Walt Disney company and how does it feel to be portrayed in this child abuse propaganda cult image? 

Disney: I see a coordinated strategy unfolding. Disney is the most obvious target, as it is so deeply woven in families. It’s easy to imagine that there is someone out there trying indoctrinate your child. It’s a good choice, so that I can understand the reason it was chosen in strategic. This is ridiculous. In every movie, especially animations where gay characters are present or not, the thing Disney represents is love, acceptance and family. So they are trying to infuse Disney with something that is not Disney. 

It doesn’t matter if there are gay characters. I wonder what their theory is of change. If you remove all references to homosexuality and gay people, which is kind of how the don’t say gay bill feels, would children become gay? Is it necessary to recruit and groom them or is that enough? It’s an important question that they should ask because there has been many gay people throughout history, regardless of whether the word was spoken. This is a very inefficient way to do what they want. It is an attempt to rewrite history. It’s our collective fight now, and we’re all on it together. 

STELTER: Who are you talking about when you claim they have a strategy? Ron DeSantis, as well as state legislators in Florida’s Republican Party, supported this bill for parental rights in education. It is known as the “Don’t Say Gay Bill”. It is this that has led to the current conflict with Disney, now much larger. What do you really mean by they? 

DISNEY (I mean they): They are large funders of right-wing movements that prefer to be quiet. That’s what we can’t pretend isn’t happening. So this Disney attack was timed so well and strategically rolled out that I found it hard to imagine it wasn’t the result of several decisions made behind closed doors. 

STELTER – I see. What is your advice to Disney? You wrote that the leader must have courage. How?  

DISNEY: There’s always talk about neutrality in business. Let us be ourselves. 

STELTER – That is what Bob Chapek seems to be trying to do. Just stay away from it. Stay neutral. Don’t offend anyone. 

DISNEY: Right, right. It was difficult to prove that when it became clear that Dennis Backsly had given money to Ron DeSantis, Ron DeSantis, and others it was hard to do so. You can’t assert neutrality when you are supporting those who make these laws. There is also no neutrality. Perhaps there was once a place in the public square that allowed people to openly discuss their ideas and come up with their own opinions. But it has been destroyed by the toxic and polarization within the public space. There isn’t a business or activity that isn’t being politicized in American society at the moment. You can’t pretend neutrality if there’s a lot of right-leaning momentum against human rights, away from kindness and love, so don’t just stand by and say you are neutral. This other thing will move forward if you don’t take action.  

(…)

STELTER: What worries me, there is this spectrum, like there’s the crazy QAnon cult stuff, which is child sex trafficking and then there is the milder version which is part of this which is fearing what kids are learning in school about gay people and there is a spectrum here and it exists on a spectrum. So you’re going to have certain individuals going full QAnon and then you have GOP politicians that are just worried about their straight kids and not worrying about gay kids. And so we’re going to see this for the next six months through the midterms. I’m not sure if we will see it after then.