Report: Victoria Alonso “Never Had That Much Power At Disney”
A new report claims that fired Marvel Studios executive Victoria Alonso “never had that much power at Disney.”
This new report comes from Matthew Belloni at Puck where he discussed the now-public battle between The Walt Disney Company and the fired Marvel Studios executive.
Belloni writes at the outlet, “Alonso never had that much power at Disney, despite her public profile and personal positioning, though she did lord over Marvel’s VFX contractors.”
Aside from this bit of information, Belloni provides his point of view on the now-public battle between Alonso and The Walt Disney Company claiming much of it had to do with her producing the Amazon Studios film Argentina, 1985 rather than a slew of reasons that they could have canned her for namely “her belittling behavior towards vendors, the relentless self-promotion, or the fact that the visual effects in Marvel productions (her actual job) have been specifically and repeatedly called out as lacking by fans, the media, and actual VFX professionals.”
However, this claim that Alsono did not have that much power is significant as it signals that not much will change at The Walt Disney Company when it comes to the social agendas the company has embraced especially the promotion of sexual orientation and gender ideology to young children.
This agenda was specifically revealed by former Disney CEO Bob Chapek when the company chose to embroil itself in a public debate over a Florida law banning instruction of sexual orientation and gender ideology to children in grades Kindergarten through third grade in schools.
Chapek wrote in an email to Disney employees, “because this struggle is much bigger than any one bill in any one state, I believe the best way for our company to bring about lasting change is through the inspiring content we produce, the welcoming culture we create, and the diverse community organizations we support.”
“There’s a reason content is at the top of this list. For nearly a century, our company’s stories have opened minds, inspired dreams, shown the world both as it is and how we wish it could be, and now more than ever before, represent the incredible diversity of our society. We are telling important stories, raising voices, and I believe, changing hearts and minds,” he continued.
He later added, “Powerful content that changes hearts and minds only springs from inclusive cultures, which not only attract and retain the best and most diverse talent, but also give those employees the freedom to bring forth ideas that reflect their lives and experiences. We must work together to ensure Disney always remains such a place.”
Alonso had been one of the more outspoken employees about pushing these radical left-wing ideologies through The Walt Disney Company and Marvel Studios. In fact, she criticized Chapek for his initial stance towards the Florida bill that is now law.
During an appearance at the GLAAD Media Awards, Alonso said, “If you are a member of the LGBTQIA community and you work at the Walt Disney Company, the last two or three weeks have been a sad event. I’ve asked Mr. Chapek for courage in a 45-minute sit-down.”
“I asked him to look around and truly if what we sell is entertainment for the family, we don’t choose what family. Family is this entire room. Family is the family in Texas, in Arizona, in Florida, and in my family, in my home.
She went on, “So I ask you again Mr. Chapek: please respect—if we’re selling family—take a stand against all of these crazy outdated laws. Take a stand for family.”
“Stop saying that you tolerate us. Nobody tolerates me, let me tell you that. You tolerate the heat in Florida, the humidity in Arizona or Florida, the dryness in Arizona and Texas, and you tolerate a tantrum in a two-year-old. But you don’t tolerate us. We deserve the right to live, love, and to have. More importantly, we deserve an origin story,” Alonso professed.
RELATED: Marvel Studios Executive Victoria Alonso Blasts Disney CEO Bob Chapek At GLAAD Media Awards
After pointing out a member of the audience named Max, Alonso then declared, “I encourage all of you to stop being silent. Silence is death. Silence is poison. But if you don’t stand up, if you don’t fight, if you don’t give your money, and if you don’t vote, then all we can do is have a party and be gay.”
“Fight, fight, fight! As long as I am at Marvel Studios I will fight for representation for all of us,” she proclaimed.
#VictoriaAlonso no solo es de las mujeres más poderosas en Hollywood (presidenta ejecutiva de producción en Marvel) sino también es de las más valientes porque no le tiene miedo a su jefe Bob Chapek (CEO Disney) a la hora de defender los derechos LGBT+
pic.twitter.com/vuiBqUmJE5— Stivi De Tivi (@StiviDeTivi) April 3, 2022
Not only did she criticize Chapek over the company’s initial stance to not get involved politically with the bill, but rather focus on the company’s content to influence people’s hearts and minds in favor of sinful activities, Alonso previously claimed the reason Marvel Studios was successful because of their focus on “representation.”
At the Annecy International Animation Festival in June 2021, Alonso said, “The reason we have that success consistently is because our audience is global. You cannot have a global audience and not somehow start to represent it… For us, it was really, really, really important to have that.”
She continued, “For the longest of time, we heard a woman-led film will never open. I say, ‘Please check, Captain Marvel made a lot of money.’ Then they always told us that Black Panther was never going to open and that nobody wanted a completely Black cast, and that made $1.3B.”
“So you can look at it from the social point of view, the cultural point of view. But truthfully, this is a business. From a fiscal point of view, you are leaving money on the table by not representing,” she explained.
Alonso also infamously claimed the name X-Men was outdated.
When asked about the X-Men during an interview with Nuke the Fridge’s Luis Lecca, Alsono said, ““I don’t know where the future is going. It’s funny that people call it the X-Men, there’s a lot of female superheroes in that X-Men group, so I think it’s outdated.”
More recently Alonso seemed to take credit for changing the meaning behind Namor’s name in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the original Marvel Comics, Namor’s meant “Avenging Son.”
In Marvel Comics #1, which debuted in 1939, a panel reads, “And so Namor, the Avenging Son, faces the surface men of the world, in what promises to be mortal combat!”
According to Alonso this meaning was changed to “el niño sin amor” or the boy without love when she was asked about his name by Deadline.
She would also add, “Por eso le dice Namor. El niño que creció sin amor. Namor.” That roughly translates to “This is why he’s called Namor. The boy who grew up without love.”
#WakandaForever EP Victoria Alonso on the meaning of #Namor : the boy who grew up without love pic.twitter.com/MrvFqcL0Fz
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) October 27, 2022
While Alonso has been one of the more outspoken Disney employees given Belloni’s report that she didn’t wield that much power in the company, it’s safe to assume the promotion of these sinful ideologies is and was being directed by people above her and her firing is unlikely to change the company’s promotion of sin.
In fact, Disney CEO Bob Iger recently claimed the promotion of sin will continue at the company. Back in November when asked about the company’s stance on the Florida law he said, “Well, first of all, our LGBTQ employees are very important to us and we care deeply about them. That is a given.
He added, “This company has been telling stories for a hundred years, and those stories have had a meaningful, positive impact on the world. And one of the reasons that they’ve had a meaningful, positive impact is one of our core values is inclusion, acceptance, and tolerance. And we can’t lose that. We just can’t lose that.”
In response to the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, Iger said Disney would still promote “inclusion,” but suggested that the company must strike a “delicate balance” and “listen to [its] audience” and “have respect for the people that [it’s] serving.” This is a retreat. pic.twitter.com/bZBnQdm616
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) November 29, 2022
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige also indicated the company does not intend to stop pushing sinful practices in its films and TV programs.
While speaking on The Movie Business Podcast, Feige said, “Frank Capra has a quote that our co-president Louis D’Esposito quotes often, which is — basically to distill down to: entertain first. You can have as many beautiful messages, and beautiful life theories, and beautiful thematics that you want to put into the world that all of us do, and all of our filmmakers do, but if you’re not entertaining first it will fall on deaf ears.”
“I think that’s always been the way,” Feige added. “Thankfully, you’re making the kind of movies that you love to see that also goes into entertaining yourself, which is what we also try to do here at Marvel Studios.”
What do you make of this latest report regarding Victoria Alonso and her influence on The Walt Disney Company?
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