Halper: Criticism of Disney after its opposition to ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill is ‘misplaced’

Comedian and podcaster Katie Halper said podcaster Joe Rogan’s and comedian Bill Maher’s pushback against corporations such as Disney after it openly opposed Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill is misplaced. 

“We should always have skepticism when we’re dealing with corporations and when it comes to corporate power. I think that Bill Maher and Joe Rogan’s skepticism here seems a little misplaced. I’m not sure why they’re so frustrated. I’m not sure what leaning into wokeism means really,” Halper said while appearing on Hill.TV’s “Rising.”

Last month Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) signed the bill into law, which prohibits discussions in some elementary school grades about gender identity and sexual orientation. The Walt Disney Company has condemned the legislation and has vowed that it will help to repeal it, according to CNBC. 

Halper said it is not wrong for Disney to oppose the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

“I just think in this case their analysis isn’t that applicable to what’s happening with Disney. I don’t think it’s weird or wrong for Disney to fight back against this ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill,’ Halper said.

Halper said there is misplaced fear that Disney is engaging in cultural warfare. 

“It just seems like a bit of fear mongering. I think that corporations have out-sized power that we see them exercise every day when it comes to, I mean labor unions or workers’ rights. I think that if there is some kind of ideological warfare that we see then we can talk about that, but I don’t think we’ve seen that so far in the case of Disney at least,” Halper said.

“This is a very cancel culture-ish bill, right? It’s literally canceling speech and I think that we see time and time again that people like right wingers like DeSantis who decry cancel culture are kind of the snowflakes when it comes to free speech,” she added.