{"id":1669733,"date":"2022-10-03T09:09:59","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T13:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1669733"},"modified":"2022-10-03T09:17:06","modified_gmt":"2022-10-03T13:17:06","slug":"david-kaufman-heiress-abigail-disneys-bow-to-cancel-culture-is-especially-spineless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/david-kaufman-heiress-abigail-disneys-bow-to-cancel-culture-is-especially-spineless\/","title":{"rendered":"David Kaufman: Heiress Abigail Disney\u2019s Bow to Cancel Culture Is Especially Spineless"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdavid-kaufman-heiress-abigail-disneys-bow-to-cancel-culture-is-especially-spineless%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1669733&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--columnist inline-module--author\">\n<div class=\"inline-module--author__img\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>One of the great privileges of extreme wealth is the ability to stick to your opinions. Whether an anti-gun, pro-choice liberal like Michael Bloomberg or a committed conservative like Charles Koch, endless billions insulate the rich from ever having to change their minds.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Which is why the case of Abigail Disney is so confounding \u2014 and annoying. A granddaughter of Walt Disney Company co-founder Roy Disney (and a grandniece of Walt), Abigail has made a tidy career for herself as a dilettante film-maker committed to ending the scourge of economic inequality. Despite a personal <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/04\/29\/inside-the-disney-familys-not-unified-front-amid-dont-say-gay-outrage\/\">fortune estimated at $200 million <\/a>\u2014 and a last name conferring instant media fame and attention \u2014 Disney spends most <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2019\/06\/25\/americas-richest-billionaires-say-they-want-to-be-taxed-more\/\">of her time dissing the rich and nepotistic<\/a>. In other words, people much like herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Her latest project, as detailed in a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/09\/25\/us\/sundance-jihad-rehab-meg-smaker.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New York Times article<\/a>, was the new documentary, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt16377380\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jihad Rehab<\/a>\u201d directed by Meg Smaker, which has been canceled by wokey film-folk who\u2019ve decried the movie as anti-Arab, anti-Muslim propaganda perpetuating stereotypes via a \u201cwhite, Western gaze.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/01\/30\/american-dirt-author-tour-canceled-over-safety-concerns\/\">Like with the recent novel \u201cAmerican Dirt\u201d<\/a> \u2014 which told the story of a Mexican mother, but was written by a white author\u00a0\u2014 the critics of \u201cJihad Rehab\u201d have paid particularly close attention to Smaker\u2019s race.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/meg-smaker.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/meg-smaker.jpg\" alt=\"\u201cJihad Rehab\u201d was directed by Meg Smaker (above), who has seen her career damaged by outrage over the film and Disney\u2019s public rebuke. The 42-year-old director is now so cash-poor, she&#039;s had to borrow money from her parents.\" class=\"wp-image-24043033\" width=\"618\" height=\"411\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/meg-smaker-1.jpg 1236w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/meg-smaker-2.jpg 927w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/meg-smaker-3.jpg 618w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/meg-smaker-4.jpg 309w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/meg-smaker-5.jpg 1024w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>\u201cJihad Rehab\u201d was directed by Meg Smaker (above), who has seen her career damaged by outrage over the film and Disney\u2019s public rebuke. The 42-year-old director is now so cash-poor, she\u2019s had to borrow money from her parents. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images for ZFF<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/jihad-rehab.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/jihad-rehab.jpg\" alt=\"\u201cJihad Rehab\u201d tells the story of alleged terrorists looking for redemption in Saudi Arabia. Although Arabs were involved in the movie\u2019s production, woke folk have criticized the movie for perpetuating stereotypes via a \u201cwhite, Western gaze.\u201d\" class=\"wp-image-24043059\" width=\"618\" height=\"411\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/jihad-rehab-1.jpg 1236w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/jihad-rehab-2.jpg 927w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/jihad-rehab-3.jpg 618w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/jihad-rehab-4.jpg 309w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/jihad-rehab-5.jpg 1024w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>\u201cJihad Rehab\u201d tells the story of alleged terrorists looking for redemption in Saudi Arabia. Although Arabs were involved in the movie\u2019s production, woke folk have criticized the movie for perpetuating stereotypes via a \u201cwhite, Western gaze.\u201d<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Foothill Productions<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Because she\u2019s white, Smaker has been deemed unfit to tell the story of former Guantanamo prisoners sent to a Saudi Arabian \u201crehabilitation\u201d facility to forsake their alleged terrorist pasts. Never mind that Smaker \u2014 who\u2019s also a former firefighter \u2014 lived extensively in the Middle East, mastered Arabic and spent three years in Riyadh meticulously documenting her subjects\u2019 journeys. As with white female authors, it seems that white female film directors like Smaker can only tell the stories of other white females.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Disney\u2019s role in this saga is particularly spineless and craven. For one thing, she produced \u201cJihad Rehab,\u201d and initially called its premise of introspection and redemption \u201cfreaking brilliant.\u201d But now that the flick has been canceled from most major film festivals, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/jihad-rehab-sundance-meg-smaker-new-york-times\/\">including Sundance<\/a>, she describes the movie as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forkfilms.com\/jihad-rehab-letter\/\">\u201ctruckload of hate.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/abigail-disney3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/abigail-disney3.jpg\" alt=\"While Smaker has been canceled and is effectively broke, Disney is sitting on an estimated fortune of $200 million, which she inherited from her famous family.\" class=\"wp-image-24043071\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/abigail-disney3-1.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/abigail-disney3-2.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/abigail-disney3-2.jpg&amp;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>While Smaker has been canceled and is effectively broke, Disney is sitting on an estimated fortune of $200 million, which she inherited from her famous family.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/guantanamo-detainees.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1022\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/guantanamo-detainees.jpg\" alt=\"Smaker spent three years in Saudi Arabia documenting the stories in \u201cJihad Rehab.\u201d The film initially received positive reviews, and Disney herself called it \u201cfreaking brilliant\u201d before caving to industry outrage.\" class=\"wp-image-24043076\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/guantanamo-detainees-1.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/guantanamo-detainees-2.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/guantanamo-detainees-2.jpg&amp;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Smaker spent three years in Saudi Arabia documenting the stories in \u201cJihad Rehab.\u201d The film initially received positive reviews, and Disney herself called it \u201cfreaking brilliant\u201d before caving to industry outrage. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Foothill Productions<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Despite Arab production partners and an elaborate vetting process, \u201cJihad Rehab\u201d was lambasted almost immediately after it was announced by Sundance and made available for early reviews \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2022\/jan\/22\/jihad-rehab-review-eye-opening-documentary-on-a-controversial-program\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">most of which were positive.<\/a> But instead of defending the film she financed, Disney joined the hater-chorus with a level of creepy performative contrition bordering on self-flagellation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Disney said she \u201cfailed, failed and absolutely failed\u201d to understand how the film might impact Arab and Muslim viewers. Fair enough. But rather than merely focus on her <em>own<\/em> feelings \u2014 and allow others to arrive at their <em>own<\/em> conclusions \u2014 she was just getting started. \u201cI want to host mediated conversations to hear where I have failed and what I have not seen,\u201d she bleated plaintively. \u201cI am soul-searching and examining my own processes, assumptions, and shortcomings so that I can do less harm.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/jeannine-cummins.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/jeannine-cummins.jpg\" alt=\"Smaker&#039;s case echoes that of \u201cAmerican Dirt\u201d author Janine Cummins, who was slammed for being a white woman telling the tale of a fictional Mexican mother.\" class=\"wp-image-24043081\" width=\"618\" height=\"677\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/jeannine-cummins-1.jpg 1236w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/jeannine-cummins-2.jpg 927w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/jeannine-cummins-3.jpg 618w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/jeannine-cummins-4.jpg 309w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/jeannine-cummins-5.jpg 1024w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Smaker\u2019s case echoes that of \u201cAmerican Dirt\u201d author Janine Cummins, who was slammed for being a white woman telling the tale of a fictional Mexican mother.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images for East Hampton Library<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/walt-disney.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/walt-disney.jpg\" alt=\"Disney\u2019s great-uncle was industry legend Walt Disney, who co-founded the family empire with her grandfather Roy.\" class=\"wp-image-24043089\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/walt-disney-1.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/walt-disney-2.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/walt-disney-2.jpg&amp;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Disney\u2019s great-uncle was industry legend Walt Disney, who co-founded the family empire with her grandfather Roy.  <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Corbis via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Dear Abby \u2014 <em>chill<\/em>!<\/p>\n<p>Disney\u2019s self-indulgent mea culpa would almost be humorous if it hadn\u2019t been so damaging.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to her takedown, \u201cJihad Rehab\u201d is DOA and the director is basically broke: \u201cMs. Smaker has maxed out credit cards and, at age 42, borrowed money from her parents,\u201d wrote the Times. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/disney-world.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/disney-world.jpg\" alt=\"With the Smaker smackdown behind her, Disney has returned to bashing the rich with her latest film, \u201cThe American Dream and Other Fairy Tales,\u201d which tackles pay inequity at her family\u2019s most famous landmark, Disney World.\" class=\"wp-image-24043100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/disney-world-1.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/disney-world-2.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/disney-world-2.jpg&amp;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>With the Smaker smackdown behind her, Disney has returned to bashing the rich with her latest film, \u201cThe American Dream and Other Fairy Tales,\u201d which tackles pay inequity at her family\u2019s most famous landmark, Disney World.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Meanwhile, Abigail Disney is still rich enough <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecut.com\/2019\/03\/abigail-disney-has-more-money-than-shell-ever-spend.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">to afford the fancy restaurants and designer shoes<\/a> she\u2019s publicly said she favors. Rich enough, in fact, to fund additional vanity cinema efforts, including her latest, \u201cThe American Dream and Other Fairy Tales,\u201d in which she \u2014 yet again \u2014 takes on inequality, this time (<em>cringe!<\/em>) <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/01\/24\/disney-heiress-blasts-company-over-pay-inequality-documentary\/\">as perpetuated by her own family<\/a> at Disneyland and The Walt Disney Company.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite these very real setbacks, odds are that Smaker will eventually bounce back. Any woman who trained firefighters in the incredibly patriarchal society of Yemen clearly has fortitude; while anyone who\u2019s helmed a research-heavy opus like \u201cJihad Rehab\u201d also has patience. As for Disney, having done little in terms of forging an actual career, her name and money are, essentially, all she has to offer.<\/p>\n<p>Like so many entertainment industry wannabes, Disney gave into silencing and outrage. She squandered one of the most enviable attributes of wealth \u2014 the ability to truly think freely and stick to one\u2019s convictions. Though, having said that, the Smaker story suggests she may not have any convictions at all.<\/p>\n<p><em>dkaufman@nypost.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the great privileges of extreme wealth is the ability to stick to your opinions. Whether an anti-gun, pro-choice liberal like Michael Bloomberg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1669735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1669733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1669733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1669733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1669733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1669735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1669733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1669733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1669733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}