Credit: Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia CommonsDuring a segment on the Fox News comedic talk show Gutfeld! (2021-present), Greg Gutfeld attempted to eviscerate the Walt Disney Company for the recent box office failures due to its “woke” propaganda.
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While they may be seen as a dying art form, late-night talk shows are still an important part of the entertainment industry, offering an often comedic look into celebrity’s lives and an opportunity for them to promote their projects. These are also home to some of the most recognized names in comedy, including Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, and Jimmy Kimmel.
However, none of these shows are the most watched. That honor goes to Gutfeld! on the Fox News Channel hosted by, you guessed it, Greg Gutfeld. This show is supposed to serve as a comedic look at liberalism in the United States. Instead, it more often comes across as dull and offensive. And in a recent episode, the host turned his sights on the House of Mouse.
Greg Gutfeld Attacks “Woke” Disney, Insults Native Americans, Latinos, and the Irish in the Process
On a recent episode of the talk show Gutfeld!, host Greg Gutfeld decided to tackle one of Fox News’ favorite subjects: Disney’s failures at the box office. While there are many factors to consider regarding what is causing this, Gutfeld already knew the answer: wokeism.
Gutfeld joked, “It’s gotten so bad, Cruella DeVille is selling dogs at Chipotle. Pocahontas had to open a casino. And Peter Pan had to cancel his gender-affirmation surgery.” The audience’s response was tepid, to say the least.
The host continued, “What does this say about Disney? Once a cultural icon of American family values, it has gone to the siren song of wokeism, devolving into an out-of-touch and desperate divorced dad with no creativity. We all liked Mickey Mouse before he started scolding us about people’s pronouns. But leftists can make you hate everything, from Disney to schoolteachers to sports … How can you make it so nobody likes Disney?”
Gutfeld went on to talk about Disney’s recent box office failures based on research from “prominent YouTuber” Valliant Renegade. This list included Strange World (2022), Lightyear (2022), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023). While the first two films were flops, Quantumania made more than double its budget in theaters, while Wakanda Forever grossed over $859 million.
Finally, Gutfeld had one more joke to bring the segment home: “But maybe we’re misremembering just how wholesome their classic movies really were. I mean, check out this old cartoon.” What followed was footage from Mickey’s Parrot (1938), where he loads and fires a shotgun, with a bad Mickey impression dubbed over it, lamenting the Irish moving into his neighborhood and women getting the right to vote.
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None of this was even remotely funny. Not only was the animated segment way too long, but it seems to equate wokeism with racism and sexism. Isn’t “being woke” supposed to be over-policing what people say so they don’t say something racist or sexist? Wouldn’t that make it the opposite of those things?
While some interesting points were brought up in the panel discussion, particularly about how expensive it is to actually see a movie in theaters and Disney’s exorbitant Theme Park prices, the whole segment was much more hacky and uncomfortable than biting and satirical.
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