Taxé de wokisme par Donald Trump, Disney modifie le contenu de ses avertissements

En novembre 2019, Disney introduit pour la première fois des avertissements pour certains dessins animés des années 1940 et 1950 jugés offensants, racistes et stéréotypés notamment pour leurs représentations caricaturales des Noirs, des Amérindiens ou encore des femmes : « Ce programme est présenté tel qu'il a été créé à l'origine. Il peut contenir des représentations culturelles dépassées. » En octobre 2020, la compagnie américaine va plus loin, reformule l’avertissement et opte pour une version bien plus longue élaborée avec plusieurs organisations dont l’Association des critiques de films afro-américains : « Ce programme comprend des représentations datées et/ou un traitement négatif des personnes ou des cultures. Ces stéréotypes étaient déplacés à l’époque et le sont encore aujourd’hui. Plutôt que de supprimer ce contenu, nous tenons à reconnaître son influence néfaste afin de ne pas répéter les mêmes erreurs, d’engager le dialogue et de bâtir un avenir plus inclusif, tous ensemble. Disney s’engage à créer des histoires sur des thèmes inspirants et ambitieux qui reflètent la formidable diversité de la richesse culturelle et humaine à travers le monde. » Une politique wokiste dénoncée par les Républicains aux États-Unis.

Après le retour de Donald Trump à la Maison Blanche, Disney fait évoluer sa stratégie en matière de diversité, d’équité et d’inclusion, et modifie le contenu des avertissements précédents ses films les plus anciens, dont Peter Pan et Dumbo. Si Disney ne retire pas les avertissements, ils sont beaucoup plus courts et moins moralisateurs : « Ce programme est présenté dans sa version originale et peut contenir des stéréotypes ou des représentations négatives. » La directrice des ressources humaines de l’entreprise explique longuement sa position dans une note interne du 12 février 2025.

La note :

Executive Leaders,

For over 100 years, Disney has entertained and inspired generations of families from all walks of life around the world. We create entertainment that appeals to a global audience, and having a workforce that reflects the consumers we serve helps drive our business. With more than 230,000 dedicated employees and Cast Members in more than 40 countries across six continents, Disney has long believed that the rich variety of talents and experiences our employees bring to their work is good for our business and enhances the experience of our global consumers, audiences, and guests.

Creating a welcoming and respectful environment for our employees and guests is core to our company culture and our business. Our values — integrity, creativity, collaboration, community, inclusion — guide our actions and how we treat each other. Today I want to provide an update on how our values are embedded in our leader compensation programs, specifically our Other Performance Factors (OPFs), as well as share some of the work that has been underway to evolve our talent strategy consistent with these values.

Other Performance Factors (OPFs): Beginning this fiscal year, we are adding a new “Talent Strategy” factor to our executive compensation planning. This factor will assess how leaders uphold our company values, incorporate different perspectives to drive business success, cultivate an environment where all employees can thrive, and sustain a robust pipeline to ensure long-term organizational strength. This new factor represents an evolution of important concepts in the former Diversity & Inclusion OPF and will be used alongside our other two OPFs, “Storytelling & Creativity” and “Synergy.”

As many of you know, we have spent the last year partnering with stakeholders across the company to discuss the evolution of our strategic framework for advancing our commitment to being welcoming, respectful, and inclusive in how we operate so we are the best place to work. The resulting framework — which we released in December — is designed to align our initiatives with our business goals and company values, centered around four key pillars:

People: We reach and attract the best, most talented people around the world and foster barrier-free talent processes for everyone.

Culture: We purposefully champion a culture where everyone belongs and can contribute to our business success.

Market Reach: We create unforgettable stories, experiences, and products that entertain and resonate globally.

Community: We learn from and support under-served communities by establishing and investing in impactful relationships with organizations and business stakeholders.

As we developed this new framework, we looked at ways to enhance our programs and practices to strengthen our workplace environment, in service of our business. While some of you are already familiar with what’s new, we wanted to highlight some of the key developments:

New Online Destination: In December, we added our new framework to our corporate Impact website and the Belong hub on MyDisneyToday, with a focus on our above pillars and continued progress. This new framework, rooted in our efforts to enhance our employee experience, marks the evolution of the significant work done with Reimagine Tomorrow and succeeds that branding.

Employee Groups: Last year, we began the process of unifying and streamlining our global enterprise-wide Belonging Employee Resource Groups (BERGs) structure, and rebranded the “B” in BERG from “Business” to “Belonging” to highlight that our employee groups’ role is focused on strengthening our employee community and workplace experience.

While this will continue to evolve, what won’t change is our commitment to fostering a company culture where everyone belongs and everyone can excel, enabling us to deliver the globally appealing entertainment that drives our business.

Warm regards,