Elon Musk pledged Tuesday to cover the legal expenses of Disney employees “discriminated against” by the studio’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, calling those standards “mandatory, institutionalized racism and sexism.”
The tech mogul made the call for those “discriminated against by Disney or its subsidiaries (ABC, ESPN, Marvel, etc.)” in a post to X Tuesday afternoon, minutes after sharing a graphic detailing Disney’s internal inclusion standards, which he said was provided by an “anonymous source.”
In actuality, the same graphic Musk shared has been in public circulation since appearing in The Hollywood Reporter in 2020, as pointed out by editor-at-large Kim Masters shortly after.
“Just reply to this post to receive legal support,” Musk said, quote-tweeting the image.
If you were discriminated against by Disney or its subsidiaries (ABC, ESPN, Marvel, etc), just reply to this post to receive legal support https://t.co/PDqCgJKAY5
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2024
Earlier Tuesday, news broke that Musk is funding a lawsuit against Disney and Lucasfilm from former “The Mandalorian” star Gina Carano, who was fired from the series in 2021 following a series of “abhorrent” social media posts “denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities,” a Disney spokesperson said at the time.
Musk is funding the lawsuit as part of his initiative to cover legal costs for X users who faced discrimination for activity on his site.
“As a sign of X Corp’s commitment to free speech, we’re proud to provide financial support for Gina Carano’s lawsuit, empowering her to seek vindication of her free speech rights on X and the ability to work without bullying, harassment, or discrimination,” the platform’s head of business operations Joe Benarroch told TheWrap.
Musk first pledged to cover the legal costs for individuals “unfairly treated” by their employer “due to posting or liking something” on his social media platform in August 2023.
“We will fund your legal bill,” the billionaire entrepreneur proclaimed. His renewed targeting of Disney and its DEI policies appears to be a continuation of that crusade.
Disney declined to comment to TheWrap on Musk’s tweets.
