Disney Uses ESPN to Push Lies About Florida Sex Bill

CLAY: We’ve talked about the bill in Florida which says kindergarten, first graders, second graders, third graders, basically they’re not gonna talk about sex, sexual orientation. It’s being put forward as if it’s “don’t talk about being gay,” but the reality is it’s just, “Hey, you know, those are not ages where human sexuality are a big part of what should be the teaching for those young kids.”

I say that as somebody who’s had three young kids, and I think that’s appropriate. I’ve got a first grader. I don’t think he needs to be learning about human sexuality in his first-grade classroom. Well, what’s interesting is, Disney. Have you seen this, Buck? The Disney CEO, Bob Chapek, I believe is how you pronounce his name, has now teed off on this bill and says he wants to meet with Florida governor Ron DeSantis and saying in a he’s basically outraged and disgusted by it.

Well, this, to me, is a real opportunity. I don’t know if DeSantis will take advantage of it, because obviously Disney is an important asset inside of his state, but they’re not moving Disney World, right? (laughs) Disney World’s going to be there forever. To me, this is a real opportunity for them to fire back at people in Florida and say, “Wait a minute. Why is Disney — which, by and large, is in the business of entertaining children — arguing that kindergarteners, first graders, second graders, and third graders should be being taught about human sexuality at those ages?”

This seems to me — and I know we talked about this a little bit. There’s a fear because it’s been granted as “don’t say gay” which is not the truth of this bill at all. It’s just designed to ensure that kids at young ages are not exposed to things that are above their ability to understand them — and, oh, by the way, if your kids are in public school, kindergarten through third grade, they don’t need to be discussing any of these issues.

And I say that as somebody who’s had three kids in public school, and I’ve got a first grader right now. To me, this is a pretty good opportunity for Ron DeSantis and Republicans — not only in Florida but around the country — to push back, and I think Disney has put itself in a really bad spot in terms of leaving itself open to a significant counterattack.

BUCK: Well, you can tell the LGBTQ activists — and there are groups that get funded and they’re looking for issues. The transgender swimmer issue is a problem for them.

CLAY: No doubt.

BUCK: They don’t want to talk about it, really. The country is not with them on this. The elite establishment is in favor of this, and the hard-core left of the Democrat Party, 20% of the Democrat Party… But the problem is the rest of the Democrats — and this is true on a whole range of issues — are scared of the most hard-core 20%, right? So those more moderates Democrats are usually, “Oh, I don’t want those people showing up outside my house and protesting me.”

So this is a moment where they’re trying to find a way to punch back, Clay, at the parental involvement, parental rights issue that Republicans seized on so successfully in Virginia. With CRT and the masking of kids in schools and the shutdowns of schools, the teachers unions are looking like thuggish buffoons who care not at all for children, only for adults who are lazy or hysterical.

They’re looking at this as, “Ah, see? Republicans are bigots, the ‘don’t say gay’ bill.” It’s totally manufactured, but a lot of the biggest corporations in America, they’re terrified of being called racist. They’re also terrified of being considered anti-gay or being in any way affiliated with anything that’s anti-gay, and so they want to usually trying to get points, so to speak, in advance of controversy, which is what you’re seeing right now, because you can’t read this bill…

You walk up to any person on the street. “Do you want your kids…?” You ask them — you have kids, Clay — you ask somebody, “Should your 5-year-old, should your 5-year-old be talked to about gender identity and transgenderism by teachers in school?” without you even knowing or hearing anything about this, by the way? I think 90% of America says “no” to that, who have kids.

CLAY: I agree with that. And, by the way, I was gonna build on this, too, because Disney owns ESPN, right? And this is where… I don’t even know if you’ve seen this, Buck. But this is where my arguments have been for a long time. Make no mistake that ESPN is a far-left wing organization when it comes to politics and sports and the intersection of the two. I went on during the commercial break here, Buck. There are eight top headlines on ESPN.com.

Now, I know you’re not a die-hard sports fan, Buck, but we got NCAA tournament action almost underway. All these different conference tournaments are going on. Major League Baseball is trying to decide whether or not they’re gonna be able to get their season played. You’ve got top quarterbacks signing deals, trades going everywhere. One of the eight biggest stories in America in sports right now, according to ESPN.com? Buck, it is Florida’s native Coco Gauff, who is not even a very famous tennis player. Do you know who Coco Gauff is?

BUCK: I do know tennis a bit and I know who Coco Gauff is.

CLAY: Okay. One of the eight biggest stories in sports today, Buck, headline: “Florida Native Coco Gauff Speaks Out Against State’s Anti-LGBTQ Bill.” That’s the headline. That is the headline right now, if you go to ESPN.com and you’re like, “Man, I want to know what the stories are going on in sports right now.” This is a calculated decision, okay, by ESPN and Disney to put forward, first of all, a lie, right, because this bill is not about being anti-LGBTQ.

They’re also saying, “Hey, I don’t want your kid to be taught about heterosexual sex!” It’s a belief that kids are too young to be taught this. But this headline, lots of people are gonna see it, and that is Disney using ESPN as a cultural force to directly drive a story that is false, and it’s not even a story, right? Coco Gauff? Whatever. Like, why is her opinion of a Florida bill one of the biggest stories in the world of sports today?

BUCK: ‘Cause —

CLAY: She’s welcome to speak out on anything, but treating that as a legitimate big story? That is a lie. That is fake news that ESPN is using to prop up because Disney’s opposed to it.

BUCK: At the center of all this is the recognition finally among conservatives — and this is a big part of the whole parental Mom Revolution, right, the parental involvement and this is common as a consequence of remote learning and covid and seeing what the school system really cares about, which is not children but the perks for adults to be able to work at home and get paid and everything else.

But conservatives had long bought into this — and this is one of our own strategic failures, honestly — that there’s this neutral space that exists in schools. “They’re just gonna teach history as history and math as math and the school system is just about excellence.” Unfortunately, that’s not true, and it hasn’t been true for a long time. And as we wake up to this and realize you see, there is no neutral space.

There’s what is being taught and what is not. There’s how it’s being taught. The left is in a bit of a frenzy, a little bit of a moment of panic because they used to have this, Clay, totally to themselves. They could intolerant your kids with whatever they wanted, and they didn’t even know about it, right, if you were in the public schools system.

In a lot of private schools as well as in places like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago. So going forward, we understand this is a battleground. What your kids are being taught matters, and you as a parent — and as a voter, by the way — should have a say, and the left is gonna fight back against this with everything that they have, ’cause we’ve final woken up. We’re finally in the fight.

CLAY: And they’re gonna fight back, and it’s oftentimes going to be predicated on “unfairness,” right, because this bill is not about being anti-LGBTQ, and I think it’s significant because Disney has used ESPN and their left-wing agenda to inculcate stories like these. Because you go and you’re just a random sports fan and you’re like, “Hey, what’s going on in the world?” and you look, and you say:

“Wait a minute. One of the eight biggest stories in America today is what Coco Gauff thinks?” And again, the headline is already presuming that the bill is anti-LGBTQ, when the reality is the bill is anti-young kids being taught about sexuality in schools, which virtually every parent would agree with. Lies, lies, and more lies. It’s crazy how they use sports and pop culture to advance an agenda that’s untrue.