FACT BRIEF

Has Disney donated to politicians who oppose abortion?

Monday, March 14, 2022

By Jacob Alabab-Moser

Copy link

Copy featured image

YES

Disney donated $261,653 to 28 Florida lawmakers who have filed anti-abortion legislation, according to Corporate Accountability Action. The company also contributed to anti-abortion candidates in Louisiana during the state's 2019 election and the Georgia House Republican Trust, Inc, which backed politicians who passed Georgia's post fetal–heartbeat abortion ban.

Disney's CEO Bob Chapek was recently criticized by LGBTQ+ rights advocates for refusing to publicly condemn Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill, which prohibits "discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity" in some classrooms.

Responding to the criticism, Chapek came out against the legislation and announced that Disney would be pausing all political giving in Florida and boosting efforts to fight similar legislation around the country.

Disney's political contribution report for the second half of 2020 shows the company has contributed to both Democratic and Republican party causes in California, Florida and Georgia.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Florida Politics #OffTheBANWagon campaign targets corporate donors to 28 Florida anti-abortion lawmakers

Brennan Center for Justice Follow the money behind anti-abortion laws

Equity Forward Defund the bans: Disney

Newsweek Boycott Disney calls grow over Bob Chapek's refusal to condemn 'Don't Say Gay' bill

Wall Street Journal Disney CEO Tried to Avoid Politics, Now Finds Himself in Middle of Partisan Spat

Disney Contribution report: July through December 2020

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF BY

Latest fact briefs

About fact briefs published on Gigafact

Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.