--- title: "Elon Musk Melts Down Over Disney’s “Racist” Policies" description: "Elon Musk's Disney meltdown is continuing apace, and now, the billionaire is claiming that the media conglomerate is \"racist\" at heart." date: "2024-02-08" modified: "2024-02-08" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/elon-musk-disney-racist-twitter" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "disney" - "diversity" - "elon musk" - "racism" --- # Elon Musk Melts Down Over Disney’s “Racist” Policies ![]() *\Image: Beata Zawrzel / NurPhoto / Albert L. Ortega via Getty / Futurism\* Elon Musk's Disney meltdown is — as these things go — continuing apace. The billionaire is now claiming that the media conglomerate has "institutionalized racism" at its heart. It's been a pretty huge week for Musk's rage against the Mouse House, which began last fall when Disney pulled ads from X-formerly-Twitter (alongside a host of [other businesses]()) over its [surging levels of bigotry]() often [boosted and co-signed]() by its new owner. After announcing [plans to foot the legal bills]() for fired "Mandalorian" actor Gina Carano — dismissed from the "Star Wars" spinoff for anti-Semitic and transphobic posts online — he then suggested he might try to [straight up buy Disney](). Musk then took to his social network to keep trashing the entertainment giant. In the post, the world's richest man claimed that an "anonymous source" sent him Disney's diversity and inclusion standards. The screenshot he shared shows a fairly boilerplate and innocuous list of guidelines stipulating that the company's programming include more "underrepresented groups," but per the South African tycoon's assessment, it represents "mandatory, institutionalized racism and sexism!" https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1754999578619707658 "No wonder most of their content produced over the past several years has sucked," he added [later in his Twitter thread](). "Just trying to navigate the DEI minefield is going to crush the creative process!" Aside from the obvious [dogwhistles]() about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) somehow being more "racist" and "sexist" than actual racism and sexism, however, there's a far more hilarious, salient point hidden in Musk's initial purported whistleblower document — that those inclusion standards are not secret at all. Indeed, as journalist [Ed Zitron pointed out]() and as *Futurism* verified by doing an extremely cursory Google search for "Disney inclusion standards," the document Musk posted includes the same text and color scheme as one with the ABC masthead atop it. Given that Disney has owned ABC for 28 years, it's not outside the realm of possibility that the two companies share DEI policies, and indeed, the [document we got access to]() — again, by *using Google* and *clicking on the first result* — routes to a Disney.com subpage. To be fair, the rest of Musk's "[DEI Gestapo]()" thread does include screenshots of purported Disney documents that expound on the guidelines in the initial standards page, suggesting that he did get something leaked to him. Nevertheless, this lowercase-g *goofy* attempt at a flex is a perfect reminder of the monied and weaponized ignorance of the multi-billionaire in question. As for whether or not any of this noise will help the multi-hyphenate business owner purchase Disney, which as of today [has a market cap of $200 billion](), only time will tell — but if we were to place a wager between Musk and the company's embattled chief executive [Bob Iger](), we'd put our money where the mouse is. **More on Musk:** [*Elon Musk Was Reportedly Asked to Go to Rehab*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()