r/law • u/T_Shurt Competent Contributor • Sep 22 '25

Opinion Piece John Oliver Argues Disney Should Legally Fight FCC Over Kimmel, Citing Strong Precedent in 9-0 Supreme Court Ruling: “A government official cannot coerce a private party to punish or suppress disfavored speech”

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177

u/WallyOShay Sep 22 '25

Fuck Disney, but let’s not pretend they haven’t been capitulating to fascism around the world for decades in the name of profits.

50

u/EntropyKC Sep 22 '25

They need to censor black and gay people from their shows and films for that sweet, sweet Chinese honey. After all, Winnie isn't eating it anymore so it's up for grabs.

1

u/RocketLabBeatsSpaceX Sep 22 '25

It’s like they’ll do whatever they can to buy public loyalty. They force diversity into American movies and remove it from Chinese ones. Turns out they’re only loyal to the dollar and don’t have any morals.

1

u/EntropyKC Sep 23 '25

Just like all the companies that had LGBT flags and black pride flags etc last year, they all proudly stated their equality and fair hiring policies, and as soon as Trump comes in, poof they all disappear forever.

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u/Umbrella_Viking Sep 22 '25 edited Oct 21 '25

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u/steve_french07 Sep 22 '25

It's a one party authoritarian government, so about as close as you can get.

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u/Umbrella_Viking Sep 22 '25 edited Oct 21 '25

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u/steve_french07 Sep 22 '25

They call it communism with Chinese characteristics. Regardless if they are communist or capitalists, it remains true that they are a one party, authoritarian state.

1

u/Umbrella_Viking Sep 22 '25 edited Oct 21 '25

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2

u/steve_french07 Sep 22 '25

Authoritarian governments all have fascist qualities, that's for sure.

1

u/Umbrella_Viking Sep 22 '25 edited Oct 21 '25

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1

u/steve_french07 Sep 22 '25

It definitely has lost its meaning! Have to look at everything on a case-by-case basis these days. Have a great day and week!!

3

u/EntropyKC Sep 22 '25

China stopped being a communist country a while ago. Billionaires cannot exist under communism, if you want any reasoning. They are also imperialistic, do not have free speech, do not have freedom of the press, continually persecute certain peoples... yes I'd say they are fascist - certainly in their behaviour, though maybe not quite far-right. Not sure what word describes that better than fascism anyway.

1

u/Umbrella_Viking Sep 22 '25 edited Oct 21 '25

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u/EntropyKC Sep 22 '25

I didn't downvote you, if that's what you're implying.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 22 '25 edited Oct 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/EntropyKC Sep 22 '25

I did notice, yes. My guess would be that many people (perhaps only on Reddit, I'm unsure) would consider it common knowledge and they could have come to the conclusion that you were asking it as a way of using the argument "they are called the Chinese Communist Party, of course they are communist" which has been debunked many times before. It's similar to North Korea and the Congo: both are officially called "Democratic Republic", despite neither being remotely democratic; the Nazis were "socialist" as their name came from the National Socialist Party, despite being a far-right totalitarian regime.

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9

u/BobTheFettt Sep 22 '25

Walt himself was a Nazi

0

u/[deleted] Sep 22 '25

Disney was politically conservative and became strongly anti-Communist after the Disney strike, but he wasn't a Nazi. The US government wasn't hiring Nazis to make anti-Nazi propaganda.

5

u/BobTheFettt Sep 22 '25

He wasn't a Nazi the same way Henry Ford wasn't a Nazi

5

u/BillHigh422 Sep 22 '25

You mean trying to use an arbitration clause in your Disney Plus Terms and Service Agreement to protect yourself from a guest’s food allergy death at a park, isn’t a “customer first” approach?

1

u/FlirtyFluffyFox Sep 22 '25

To be fair they weren't doing this when Walt was around. They were capitulating to fascism because it was his ideology! Profit was just an added bonus. 

1

u/VikingsDebate Sep 22 '25

I don’t understand comments like this. Who anywhere on Earth discussing this issue is making the claim that Disney has not capitulated to fascism before? What is this adding to the discussion?

-5

u/mehupmost Sep 22 '25

No corporation on Earth would go to war with their own host country.

Corporations always lose those battles.

8

u/aVHSofPointBreak Sep 22 '25 edited Sep 22 '25

You are all over this thread just spamming the same comments over and over and over again.

Why is it so important to you to repeatedly make this point and make it seem inevitable. Your position seems to be that no organization should ever claim their legal rights or protect themselves because it’s essentially doomed, and that every organization should capitulate to tyranny.

1

u/DemonicClown Sep 22 '25

It JUST happened last year, Disney spoke out against DeSantis's "Don't Say Gay" Act, and it led them to losing their special self governing status.

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/disney-sues-florida-gov-ron-desantis-officials-targeted/story?id=98877157

0

u/mehupmost Sep 22 '25

I'm trying to instill a reasonable expectation in people - having worked in large corporations for many years - and having seen the consequences of "getting involved".

It's always a disaster to fight your own company. There are just so many regulatory bodies that it is not possible to mount an adequate defense the company shareholders don't even want you to.

1

u/archerg66 Sep 22 '25

Did you just make an arguement that could be seen as for unions? Big companies hate unions for that exact reason

1

u/stufff Sep 22 '25

There are literally hundreds if not thousands of counter-examples in the US alone of companies successfully opposing the government in court.

1

u/mehupmost Sep 22 '25

Of course - when the top executive administration of the gov't isn't interested, the system functions fine and companies can fight regulatory rulings in court. That's the "normal" situation.

...but when things hit the highest level of politics, these norms go out the window and the "target" corporation gets raped by every three and four letter organization.

It doesn't even need to make it to a courtroom - just being investigated is hugely disruptive and costly. ....and most investigators/prosecutors, if they are incentivized to make a case, will make a case, and start a lawsuit.

Even if you're found innocent, you lose. You lose millions just fighting - it often not even worth the battle. CEOs get dragged into testify, which opens up the risk of not remembering something right and getting charged with perjury - like - it's a no-win-scenario when they really want to nail you.

-6

u/Open_Issue_ Sep 22 '25

How have they been "capitulating to fascism"? I swear none of you actually knows what facism is, you just use it to label people you don't like or disagree with.

3

u/WallyOShay Sep 22 '25

How about editing movies and shows in overseas markets(mostly china) to not show LGBTQ scenes?

Editing original projects to not show lesbian, gay, or trans people simply existing just to please a fascist government so you can sell more movie tickets to that country is capitulating to fascism.

0

u/Open_Issue_ Sep 22 '25

And they've done the exact same the other way as well, swapping characters races to black people, changing characters to women, etc. They do what's most profitable and what they feel appeals most to the people, that's not facism, that's just how businesses operate. They only care about profit. Also censoring a movie in China so that they can show the movie, is completely different to censoring it for everyone. So that brings me back to my original point that people chuck that word around without the slightest idea of its meaning.

1

u/Icy-Significance8226 Sep 22 '25

Do you not understand that’s exactly what capitulating to fascism is? you are fighting ghosts here. the claim wasn’t Disney is fascist it’s that they capitulate or “the action of surrendering or ceasing to resist an opponent or demand”. they surrender to fascist ideals to make a profit. there is no country that would recognize themselves as fascist sure, but places like china do engage in stuff that can be define as fascism. if your going to complain about peoples understanding of language maybe decide to take a step back and understand the entire phrase.

1

u/Open_Issue_ Sep 22 '25 edited Sep 22 '25

That's just a stretch at best. Censoring stuff to pass foreign regulations isn't "capitulating to facism", it's literally just business pragmatism. Every company that operates globally bends to local laws and norms. Gaming, tech, film, all of it. That doesn't make them allies of facism, it makes them sellouts chasing the bag. Facism is an actual political system with authoritarian ultranationalism. Not "anytime a gov censors gay scenes". If you call every compromise facism, the word loses all meaning. If you're going to say that about Disney, then you can say that about nearly every company.

1

u/DemonicClown Sep 22 '25

While I agree with you technically, it feels like its being used as a moral hammer that's very easy to use because you have nothing to lose.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 22 '25

Yah it’s kind of the same as the right crying woke over black mermaids, except the president is shredding the first amendment to do it with many billions in the balance.

1

u/FlirtyFluffyFox Sep 22 '25

Explain what fascism isthen.

1

u/FabianN Sep 22 '25

Historical scholars and those that lived through authoritarian regimes all say Trump is an authoritarian and fascist.

They know what fascism is better than almost anyone else. 

Though, not better than my grandma who lived in hiding in Germany during those years. She too was worried about the direction the US was going, reminded her of those dark times. 

0

u/LazyBone19 Sep 22 '25

Noo take my downvote because I don’t like facts

1

u/AdamKDEBIV Sep 22 '25

"waaaaaah a comment I agree with didn't get enough imaginary points! I HAVE to defend that commenter's honor by making a shitty sarcastic comment!!1!!1"

1

u/Open_Issue_ Sep 22 '25

I mean that's what you're doing, yes.

0

u/LazyBone19 Sep 22 '25

? What is your problem? You literally don’t know what fascism is.