Candace Owens, the conservative commentator for the Daily Wire, is leading calls for a boycott of the Walt Disney Co. over its opposition to the “Don’t Say Gay” bill that was signed into law by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this week.
Owens slammed Disney as “child groomers” and “pedophiles” in a tweet Thursday. She posted the provocative message in response to Disney’s criticism of the new law, which the company has vowed to fight.
The law, which prohibits teachers from discussing LGBTQ topics like sexual orientation or gender identity with students unless they’re in the fourth grade or higher, has been widely lambasted as homophobic and transphobic.
“They have now openly admitted they have a not so secret agenda with your children,” Owens tweeted. “This is the death of Disney.” She added the hashtag #BoycottDisney.
Conservatives have been furious at Disney after a producer told staffers that she had been pushing a “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” for children’s animation.
Owens’ company, which is run by Ben Shapiro, announced earlier this week that it will invest $100 million in children’s content as part of a plan to create an alternative to “woke” Disney.
“Americans are tired of giving their money to woke corporations who hate them,” said the Daily Wire co-CEO Jeremy Boreing.
“They’re tired of giving their money to woke media companies who want to indoctrinate their children with radical race and gender theory.”
“But they want to do more than just cancel them. They want alternatives.”
Boreing added: “The Daily Wire is giving them those alternatives.”
Boreing told Daily Wire staffers that the company will “invest a minimum of $100 million over the next three years into a line of live-action and animated children’s entertainment on its streaming platform.”
Daily Wire subscribers will have access to the content beginning in the spring of next year, according to Boreing.
Last week, Shapiro said his company intended to take on Disney and other large content distributors that were “being held hostage by the woke because they are cowards.”
“If you want entertainment that’s going to cater to your children, we’re going to start making kids’ content over here at Daily Wire specifically,” Shapiro said on his podcast on Tuesday.
“So you don’t have to be catered to by companies who hate your guts and cater to the people who despise your values.”
Launched in 2015, the Daily Wire was founded by Shapiro and Boreing. It has since grown to a company that employs 115 people full-time thanks to its right-leaning podcasts and website.
In recent months, the company has announced plans to create original content such as movies and series in hopes of competing with the likes of Netflix and other mainstream media companies.
DeSantis also denounced Disney on Friday, saying that his administration would look into revoking its special status as a quasi-governing entity.
