Yes, we are at that point in the identity politics/DEI cycle where companies - in addition to CEOs, COOs, CIOs, and so on - now have Chief Diversity Officers; and no, that paragon of youthful grooming, Disney, no longer has one. That's because the chief diversity officer and senior vice president of Disney, Latondra Newton, is leaving her role after more than six years, Deadline reported citing an internal memo.
Coleman wrote that Newton “decided to leave The Walt Disney Company to pursue other endeavors.” Newton plans to join the corporate board of another company and focus on the creative company she owns. It wasn't clear if she would hire Alissa Heinerscheid, best known for single handedly destroying Bud Light and Tranheuser Busch with her Dylan Mulvaney influencer campaign.
Newton had, since 2017, led Disney's diversity and inclusion initiatives, coordinating with various teams to produce entertainment "that reflects a global audience and sustains a welcoming and inclusive workplace for everyone," as per a profile on the company's website.
Her time at Disney included co-signing with Bob Iger and Bob Chapek the May 2020 memo to Disney staff in the wake of the George Floyd killing, titled “Resolve in the Time of Unrest.” In it, the trio pledged “to use our compassion, our creative ideas and our collective sense of humanity to ensure we are fostering a culture that acknowledges our people’s feelings and their pain. We also realize that now more than ever is the time for us all to further strengthen our commitment to diversity and inclusion everywhere.”
Before Disney, Newton was Group Vice President, Social Innovation and Chief Diversity Officer. Toyota Motor North America, Inc. and Chief Program Officer, Toyota Mobility Foundation, Toyota Motor Corporation. She began her career at Toyota in 1991.
Newton's departure follows two high-profile ultra-woke box office bombs. "The Little Mermaid," which has been a box office failure after its release last month, featured Black American singer Halle Bailey as Princess Ariel, highlighting the woke company's desperate attempts to rewrite history. The movie needs to gross over $560 million to reach its production and marketing threshold.
This was followed by an even more catastrophic release of the Disney Pixar movie Elemental that features a non-binary character using they/them pronouns; The production, which also features characters ‘tackling’ racism and xenophobia, ranks as one of the lowest box office debuts for a Pixar movie ever. They spent around $200 million making it. It opened with a $29.5 million recoup.
