For Immediate Release

September 9, 2020

Contact: kon@newtolerance.org

Disney is hoping to make untold millions off the live-action movie Mulan, but at what cost? Along the way, it is kowtowing to the oppressive Chinese Communist Party, going out of their way to thank them in the credits despite their grotesque violations of human rights. New Tolerance Campaign is calling on its activists to pledge to boycott the movie, at least until Disney stops praising the bad guys.

Disney’s animated Mulan from 1998 is about defying stereotypes, being true to yourself, honoring family, and fighting evil to protect the innocent. So why is the remake not only ignoring the plight of the Uyghur Muslims in China but thanking the very people responsible for their torment?

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) human rights abuses against the Uyghur people and other minorities are nothing short of horrifying. Chinese authorities have quietly abducted over 1 million innocent people without a word to their families and sent them to dystopian concentration camps. From there, they ship the captured people across China to be used as slave labor in factories that they cannot leave. The CCP helps themselves to everything from detainees’ hair to their vital organs. All of this is done in the name of stamping out the Uyghurs’ religion and culture and trying to make them into uniform, docile Chinese citizens – the exact opposite of everything Mulan encourages kids to be.

None of this stopped Disney from filming a large portion of the new live-action Mulan in the Xinjiang region where these atrocities are primarily taking place. What’s worse, Disney thanked the Chinese Communist Party Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Committee and the Bureau of Public Security in Turpan (a city in the region) in the movie’s credits. These are the people directly responsible for this oppression and the propaganda campaigns trying to cover it up.

Furthermore, in 2019 Disney CEO Bob Iger threatened to stop filming in Georgia if the state’s “heartbeat” anti-abortion bill went into effect. Uyghur women are routinely forced to have abortions by the government, but apparently that isn’t a deal-breaker for Iger.

Removing a couple lines in the credits is hardly enough to make amends, but, as far as this movie goes, much of the damage has already been done. Mulan embodies values that Disney is failing to live up to itself. That’s why NTC is mobilizing its activists to pledge not to support Disney’s prioritization of profits over human rights – and lives.