We’ve spent quite a lot of time talking about how The Walt Disney Corporation (TWDC), a company that dedicated itself to family-friendly entertainment for nearly a century, has made a turn toward the woke. Between speaking out against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, questioning whether certain beloved characters are “problematic,” and joining the chorus of corporations who are willing to pay for employees to travel for abortions, Disney has doubled down on wokeness.
Not everyone at TWDC is happy with recent events in the company. This past spring, I wrote about a group of Disney cast members who wrote an open letter to the company about how they feel alienated because they don’t support the LGBTQ+ agenda. These cast members remained anonymous, but one brave cast member has begun speaking out publicly.
Jose Castillo is a nine-year veteran cast member who works as a Resort Duty Manager at Walt Disney World. He’s also a conservative Republican who is running for Congress in Florida’s 9th district.
“Jose Castillo has been a loud voice for the Silent Majority standing up to Woke Corporate America and will continue to stand up for Common Sense Conservative principles in Washington,” reads his bio on his campaign website.
He’s also aware of the tension between being a vocal conservative and working for a woke company, yet he doesn’t care. He says that the future of the U.S. is more important to him than a job at Disney.
— Jose Castillo for Congress (@JoseForFlorida) April 2, 2022
When the memo from TWDC announcing that it would pay for abortion travel leaked, Castillo spoke to the New York Post.
“Disney knew full well that this memo would be leaked and make national news,” he said. “They sent it anyway because Disney wants to make a political statement and attempt, once more, to influence our country’s political process.”
Castillo believes that Disney is taking this stance on abortion intentionally — to continue down its woke path.
“This is yet another attempt by Disney to take a political stance that will inevitably alienate potential customers,” he told the Post. “As we have seen in recent months Disney’s political activism has hurt the company financially and it is my belief that the Board of Directors is violating its fiduciary duty to shareholders by continuing to comment on divisive political matters.”
Castillo’s stance on Woke Disney ties in with two of the key issues of his House campaign.
“We need to let kids be kids,” reads the section of his campaign site about protecting children. “Our children should not be subjected to indoctrination by special interest groups.”
His campaign stance on abortion is similar: “We must protect and defend those that cannot yet fight for themselves.”
Castillo is one of six candidates running in the August 23 GOP primary, and the winner will face Democratic Rep. Darren Soto in November. If Castillo can survive the primary, no doubt he’ll be fearless in facing Soto. After all, if a cast member is willing to face down Woke Disney, a Democratic candidate isn’t too tough an opponent.
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