According to industry reports, conservative Catholic activists in Africa have cautioned the newly-appointed CEO of Disney, Robert Iger, to desist from promoting a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) agenda in content meant for children.
The media conglomerate recently came under fire for what many conservatives consider its pro-gay agenda.
The company’s new CEO, Robert Iger, appointed Nov 20, has gotten a not-too-friendly reception in Africa. Members of CitizensGo Africa, the African branch of the far-right Catholic activist organization, have launched a petition warning Iger against injecting LGBTQ+ ideas into children’s content.
In a statement, the activists have urged Iger to “return (the company) to family values, instead of being the ruinous factory of LGBTQ+ indoctrination that it is now.”
They accused the media company of “becoming a perverse indoctrination machine that is a slave to the LGBTQ+ agenda.”
The petition asserts, “Disney’s corporate president Karey Burke stated in April she would like to see 50 per cent of characters as LGBTQ+ or other politically chosen minorities. Soon after, for the first time in history, Disney included a lesbian kiss in a movie for children,” the petition says, referring to the film “Lightyear,” which has been banned in 14 Middle Eastern and Asian countries over the scene.
In 2017, the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) banned a Disney teen television show from screening in Kenya, claiming that “Andi Mack” contains “scenes with subtle messages that seek to normalize homosexuality among young people.”
In the ruling, the board said, such content was a “deliberate glorification of homosexuality” and “is, without doubt, part of a wider scheme by the media to promote the Lesbian Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBTQ) agenda among children through TV programs.”
Ezekiel Mutua, CEO of the KFCB, asserted that “gay content will not air in Kenya. Adding that, “When it comes to protecting children from exposure to bad content, we are resolute and unapologetic.”
In June this year, Egypt’s Al-Azhar lashed out at Disney about introducing gay characters in its movies.
In a statement, Al-Azhar Fatwa Global Center condemned homosexuality as “obscene” and “reprehensible.” It said the push to include LGBT content in movies is a “systematic diabolical plan to normalize the immoral crime of homosexuality in Muslim societies.”
The statement further notes that the plan “aims to destroy the system of moral and social values of the family institution, distort the identity of its members, and tamper with the security and stability of societies.”
