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Credit: Steve Jurvetson via Wikimedia CommonsControversial South African billionaire Elon Musk says he has accepted a role as the new chief of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Walt Disney Company, which is making fans of both the Tesla owner and the Mouse say…what now? Has Musk gone “woke?”
Elon Musk, New Disney Employee
Early this morning (or late at night, depending on how you view things), Elon Musk posted to the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, saying, “Excited to join @Disney as their Chief DEI Officer. Can’t wait to work with Bob Iger & Kathleen Kennedy to make their content MORE woke! Even the linguini.”
Excited to join @Disney as their Chief DEI Officer.
Can’t wait to work with Bob Iger & Kathleen Kennedy to make their content MORE woke!
Even the linguini.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2024
This is a pretty big change for Elon Musk, whose fervent opposition to any kind of DEI policies at the numerous companies he has purchased from their founders has become a huge part of his public image. It’s also a pretty big 180 for the futurist businessman in terms of his relationship with the Walt Disney Company, Bob Iger, and Kathleen Kennedy.
Related: Elon Musk Kicks Disney+ off Tesla Vehicles Amid Disney Boycott
“Go F*** Yourself… Bob, if You’re Here in the Audience”
Elon Musk and the Walt Disney Company had a relatively normal business relationship until the fall of last year, in that the Mouse House regularly purchased ads on Twitter, as did many major companies.
Then, Elon Musk came under intense fire (per CBS) after boosting a Tweet that claimed Jews “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.” The Tesla owner replied with the now-notorious “You have said the actual truth” and followed with an attack on the Anti-Defamation League, continuing, “The ADL unjustly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel. This is because they cannot, by their own tenets, criticize the minority groups who are their primary threat.”
This caused an immediate, huge backlash against Musk and Twitter, in which major companies like Apple, IBM, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, and Disney stopped purchasing advertising from the social media platform. Musk did not react well to this, to say the least.
At the DealBook Summit 2023, Elon Musk claimed that companies not voluntarily paying to advertise on his social media platform was a form of “blackmail,” despite his vocal support for the free market and unlimited free speech. Infamously, he ranted, “Don’t advertise…Somebody’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising?! Blackmail me with money? Go f*** yourself. Go. F***. Yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is. Hey, Bob [Iger, who was present at the Summit’, if you’re here in the audience. Sorry, that’s how I feel.”
Elon Musk and Disney Lawsuits
Since then, things have been pretty icy between Elon Musk and Disney. The billionaire is bankrolling a lawsuit against the company from former Lucasfilm employee Gina Carano, who claimed she had been fired from The Mandalorian due to her conservative beliefs.
He also has supported a lawsuit against Disney and Lucasfilm for hiring Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, its first female Star Wars director, based on the principle that hiring a woman was a dereliction of financial duty to its shareholders.
Twitter @EuropaActual posted in response to a comment on the subject: “At some point, Disney shareholders need to file a class action lawsuit for breach of its fiduciary duty. After several years of repeating these same failures I think it’s reasonable to argue that Disney has officially decided to put its ideology ahead of its shareholders.” Elon Musk lent his support to the idea, saying it was “ridiculous” to have hired Obaid Chinoy.
Elon Musk has also become an enormous public opponent of the very concept of DEI practices despite his companies’ extremely spotty track record when it comes to racial practices.
Tesla was ordered to pay $3 million in a racial discrimination lawsuit less than a year ago to a former employee who claimed he had “regularly heard racial slurs, including the N-word, on the Fremont factory floor, and saw racist graffiti in bathrooms and a racially insensitive cartoon.” The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing has also filed a lawsuit against Tesla after hundreds of complaints regarding its Fremont factory, saying, “[We] found evidence that Tesla’s Fremont factory is a racially segregated workplace where Black workers are subjected to racial slurs and discriminated against in job assignments, discipline, pay, and promotion creating a hostile work environment.”
As recently as the last several months, the South African billionaire has posted statements like “DEI must DIE. The point was to end discrimination, not replace it with different discrimination.”
DEI must DIE.
The point was to end discrimination, not replace it with different discrimination.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 15, 2023
And “DEI is just another word for racism. Shame on anyone who uses it.”
DEI is just another word for racism. Shame on anyone who uses it. https://t.co/HM94ZZmfhU
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 3, 2024
Related: “Go Woke, Go Broke,” Elon Musk Slams Disney for Controversial Content
Check Your Calendar, Elon Musk Fans
The sudden turn to”woke-friendly” DEI practices from Elon Musk makes a lot more sense when one takes a quick look at the calendar and realizes it’s April Fool’s Day. It does not take long to guess that this seems to be the businessman’s idea of a joke.
At this point, it’s pretty unlikely that Elon Musk and the Walt Disney Company will work together in any meaningful capacity, particularly as the former’s use of public-domain Mickey Mouse iconography gets more and more puerile. But, on the other hand, if Musk is not quite ready to aggressively buy out Disney yet, maybe this is his way of asking for a job.
What do you think is going to happen between Musk and Disney? Tell us your predictions in the comments below!