Disney backs out of meeting with Uyghur genocide victims, say lawmakers.

Adam KredoMay 12, 2023

Disney Must Take Responsibility for its Actions and Make Amends

Lawmakers are calling out Disney for reneging on their offer to meet with Uyghur genocide victims, raising concerns that the company is kowtowing to the Chinese government. A group of Uyghurs, their families, and advocates reached out to Disney to discuss the company’s friendly relationship with Beijing and its decision to shoot a film in the province where the CCP is oppressing the country’s Muslim minority. But while Disney initially agreed to meet, the company “suddenly cut off the correspondence” and have since “evaded meeting with victims of the Uyghur genocide.”

The letter comes as Congress steps up investigations into American companies’ willingness to cooperate with China. The House Select Committee on China is investigating Nike and Adidas for their reliance on Chinese slave labor. The letter is also the latest political dustup for Disney, which has been locked in an ongoing battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R.).

Disney’s Involvement in the Uyghur Genocide

Human rights groups attempted to schedule the aborted meeting on behalf of the Uyghur victims in order to discuss Disney’s live-action Mulan. The film was shot in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, ground-zero for the CCP’s mass human rights crimes against the Muslim ethnic minority.

The film’s credits also “thanked several Chinese government agencies,” including the Public Security Bureau of Turpan, which was sanctioned by the Trump administration for human rights crimes. Disney also thanked the Publicity Department of CPC Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Committee, “the CCP propaganda arm charged with covering up the abuses,” according to the letter.

While filming Mulan, “Disney cooperated with Chinese security and propaganda authorities active in the [Xinjiang region], including ones complicit in Beijing’s human rights atrocities,” according to the lawmakers, who say “it strains credulity that Disney was unaware of the genocide occurring around its film sets.”

Disney Must Take Action

Lawmakers are pressing Disney CEO Robert Iger and other executives to “make amends” with the Uyghur dissident community by publicly meeting with genocide victims, alongside members of Congress. “Disney publicly praised Chinese Communist Party agencies committing genocide and then privately scorned their victims,” said Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.). “It’s time for Disney to own up to its mistakes and make amends.”

Disney has faced criticism for its friendly relations with the Chinese government and compliance with the country’s strict media censorship. Shareholders have reportedly asked the company to come clean about its business dealings with the CCP. It’s time for Disney to take responsibility for its actions and make amends.