http://localsknowhawaii.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-letter-to-disney.html

More contact info from TVcom.forums:

disneychannel@disneyonline.com

Board of Directors:

John S. Chen - john.chen@sybase.com

Judith L. Estrin - jestrin@packetdesign.com

John E. Bryson - john.bryson@edisonintl.com

Disney Executives:

Disney Channel
Attention: Viewer Requests/Programing
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521

Adam Bonnett Senior Vice-President of Original Programming The Disney Channel
Walt Disney Television animation
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, California, U.S.A. 91521
Adam Bonnett - Adam.Bonnett@disney.com

Robert Iger President and C.E.O. of the Walt Disney
Company.
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, California, U.S.A. 91521
Robert A. Iger - robert.a.iger@disney.com

George Bodenheimer Co-Chairman/Disney Media Network
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, California, U.S.A. 91521
George Bodenheimer - george.bodenheimer@disney.com

Anne Sweeney Co-Chair Disney Media Network President
Disney-ABC television group
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, California, U.S.A. 91521
Anne Sweeney - anne.x.sweeney@disney.com

Write The President and Director of The Disney Channel
Rich Ross
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521
Rich Ross - rich.ross@disney.com

Andrew Mooney Chairman of Disney Consumer Products
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, California, U.S.A. 91521

Andy Bird President of Walt Disney International
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, California, U.S.A. 91521
Andy Bird - Andy.Bird@disney.com

Write The Disney Channel Worldwide President of Entertainment
Gary Marsh
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521
Gary K. Marsh - gary.marsh@disney.com

Write The Chairman of Walt Disney Studios
Dick Cook
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521

The thing I’ve been trying to research is to see just how much Disney merchandise is manufactured over in Asia. That might make a compelling argument that one of their network stars just insulted the very people who help keep Disney afloat working in their sweat shops to make Mickey Mouse figurines and crap like that. The very people who help keep Disney’s revenue and stock price up thru lower costs of production.

And I think the letter writing campaign of harrassment, while being civil and well thought out, is good, I still like the pit bull attack of lawsuits and what not being done. People don’t see this a slight against Asians because we don’t raise a big enough stink about it to provide the ignorant with a little education. Even though we’re not responsible for their education.

We’ll see what generates a response: the militancy of lawsuits and being a gadfly, or thoughtful letters with cogent arguments designed to shame the Disney pukes for not publicly dealing with this. maybe they did put pressure of Miley behind the scenes—we don’t really know. But I don’t think they like the idea of bad publicity and Walt Disney employees being labeled racist by extension either.

He said that it wasn’t meant to be racist, and maybe it wasn’t. Even Sharpton himself, when this first came out, didn’t jump the gun on judging the artist’s intentions; Sharpton himself began by asking for clarification.

So it may be unintentionally racist. Promising to become more attuned is basically a promise to listen. I would love for that to take place on the Miley issue.

The words “interpreted”, and “sensitivities” imply that it wasn’t really racist, but just interpreted as such, as well as the offended parties being too “sensitive”.

A better apology would be to acknowledge that it is racist, and to hold accountable the offender, as well as to promise changes to make sure it never happens again. This is probably wishful thinking though. I would take the above apology any day over the Miley “apology” though.

And yes, Asians do need to become more “militant” (vocal) about shit like this. It’s too bad we suppress and ridicule the more militant Asians - we do need an Al Sharpton, or a Jesse Jackson. Our “artists” are also pretty lame, we need people like John Legend who give a shit.

Thanks for the comment! I agree with you on Miley. And thanks for writing letters. We need to send them the message. They should hear our voices, since the media (haha…ie them) is not doing a good job. As for my own letters, so far only OCA has responded. Disney hasn’t said anything, nor has the Committee of 100. I’m still waiting.

Earlier today on my personal blog, I wrote about Rupert AND the very issues that you raised. AND I made the same comparisons between the NY Post and Miley incidents. Great minds think alike! However, I actually like Rupert’s apology. He said:

“It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such. We all hold the readers of the New York Post in high regard, and I promise you that we will seek to be more attuned to the sensitivities of our community.”

He’s saying that the Post was not attuned to the sensitivities of the community, and he’s promising changes. That’s pretty strong. If Disney promised to be more attuned to the sensitivities of our community, that would be a giant step forward.

Yes, sometimes I wonder about what’s going to get people to do the right thing. Rupes is married to one of the most famous and powerful Chinese American women in the world. If Wendi Deng doesn’t have access to Rupes’s ear, I don’t know who does.

On the other hand, hitting hard at the economics is an even better idea. The letter writing campaign to Disney is a good start. Afterall, since they’re the parent company for the stupid Hannah Montana crap, do you think they want bad publicity? Or anything to do that may affect revenue? We may be a small minority group, but we can also flex economic muscle if we want to. And that captures a corporation’s attention.

When it comes to voicing displeasure, we could take a page from black community in how to respond. Just look at the reaction to the NY Post’s decision to run that political cartoon. All of a sudden, Rupert Murdoch is issuing a lame apology, with the usual, “if anyone was offended”. And still, the NAACP is calling for the firing of the cartoonist.

I dunno what the best tactic is, but it seems that the black community is able to get much more responses. Whether that’s thru fear or intimidation, whatever, it sends a message that this stuff is not to be tolerated. Maybe it’s a balance of both: being the gadfly and being calm and rationale.

Now, I need to write my letters.

http://www.bigwowo.com/2009/02/my-letter-to-disney/

It lists the names and company addresses of 13 Disney execs. I mailed them all last week. I also sent a copy to the Organization of Chinese Americans and the Committee of 100.

By the way, there’s a Chinese guy on the Disney Board of Directors. Not saying that that will do anything, but just saying…

I would focus more on the issue of White media racism and Disney in general. Miss Miley and her “goofy faces” are just a symptom of this problem. When Miley’s career is long over and she is relegated to “Where Are They Now” documentaries on the E! Network, the issue of anti-Asian racism will still remain.

That said, I don’t believe in turning the other cheek or worrying about appeasing (White) Mainstream sensibilities on this issue. In America, that type of groveling gets you nowhere and is an attitude that some “Orientals” are plagued with, if ya know what I mean.

The question all boils down to tactics–what is the most effective tactic in dealing not only with Miss Miley but more importantly White media racism in general.