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Reprinted from the The Orlando Sentinel, June 26, 1997.
Eisner: Baptists' Boycott Threat is 'Foolish'
Disney chief Michael Eisner criticized the Baptists' boycott
threat, which angered them.
By Mark I. Pinsky
of The Sentinel Staff
Southern Baptist leaders reacted with dismay and anger Tuesday after Disney chief
Michael Eisner called their threatened boycott of the entertainment giant
"foolish."
It was not clear what impact Eisner's weekend comments would have on the dispute, but
this dismissal of Baptist concerns about family values is certain to further polarize the
15.6-million-member denomination and the multibillion-dollar Walt Disney Co.
"It's questionable whether the Disney organization understands Southern Baptists
or the strength of our resolve," the Rev. Thomas Elliff, president of the Southern Baptist Convention,
said in a prepared statement Tuesday.
"With us, winning a battle with Disney is not the main issue. The issue is the
responsible use of free speech."
Eisner, Disney's chairman and chief executive officer, said a threatened boycott of
Disney initiated by members of the Southern Baptist Convention was the work of "a very small
group" whose views do not represent those of most Americans.
"The Southern Baptists took a very extreme position, which we feel is
foolish," said Eisner, whose comments were published Monday by the Los Angeles Daily
News. "They seem to have been off on a tangent this year."
Eisner's comments surprised Southern Baptist leaders, who had been calling for
a dialogue with the company. One activist minister predicted the comments will
"escalate the boycott."
Meeting in New Orleans earlier this month, Southern Baptists voted overwhelmingly to
boycott Disney products if the company did not reverse its "anti-Christian and
anti-family trend" within 12 months. The lengthy resolution listed complaints,
including Disney's extending health benefits to the partners of homosexual employees,
allowing "Gay Days" at Disney World and distributing objectionable films and
books through subsidiaries.
"People have been overwhelmingly supportive of our position" since the
boycott vote, Disney Vice President John Dreyer said Tuesday.
"We would certainly be glad to talk" with Disney critics, he said, "but
we are not going to change our policy on health benefits, and we are not going to turn
people away from our parks -- anymore than Southern Baptists would turn these people away
from their churches."
Elliff said the Southern Baptists' dispute with Disney was rooted in "a reverence
for the principles of the Bible... The Disney organization has shifted its focus in recent
years. While they are free to make such decisions, we are also well within our rights to
express our disappointment."
Other Baptists had stronger reactions. The Rev. Wiley Drake of the First Southern Baptist
Church of Buena Park, Calif., one of the most outspoken boycott backers in New
Orleans, said Eisner's comments "will do nothing more than escalate the
boycott."
In a telephone interview from his small church, located less than eight miles from
Disneyland, Drake said that if Disney's chief executive "thinks we're just a
small group... a handful of extremists, nothing could be further from the truth. This voice
that spoke was not the voice of a few; it was the grass roots voice of the people."
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