Earlier in March, it was announced that one of the executives in charge at Disney/Marvel was fired. Victoria Alonso, a person who’d been with Marvel Studios since its founding was terminated shortly after the film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania failed to gain much traction at the box office and deliver another disappointing response from fans.
While it was unclear why Alonso was fired, rumors swirled that it had much to do with Marvel’s descent into woke nonsense that weighed its films down and made them nigh unwatchable, something which Alonso had pushed. Others speculated that Marvel was asked to deliver too much in too short of a time, causing people in the CGI department where Alonso was in charge to deliver sub-par work in a toxic work environment. This toxic work environment was also attributed to Alonso who was rumored to blacklist people if they got on her bad side even a little.
But thanks to an exclusive from The Hollywood Reporter, we can see that there was some truth to the rumor that it had a lot to do with her insistence that Marvel movies be woke. Alonso’s lawyer has come forward and claimed that Disney fired her “gay Latina” client in an attempt to silence her after she refused an order to do something “reprehensible.”
Insiders say it has to do with the new Ant-Man flick and LGBT representation being censored for the film’s release in Kuwait:
In January, as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was being readied for release, word came down that Marvel executives wanted an editor to blur a storefront window that featured rainbow decorations and the word “Pride” for the version of the film to be released in Kuwait, which has restrictive anti-LGBTQ laws. The storefront was shown in two brief scenes in which Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) walked down a San Francisco street.
Alonso, who is gay, was an outspoken proponent of inclusion during her time at Marvel. She publicly challenged then-CEO Bob Chapek to push back against Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill — as did colleagues at sister company Pixar — and she championed diverse stories.
The Quantumania request reached Alonso, whorefused to have her team make the edit as part of her duties overseeing visual effects and postproduction at Marvel, insiders say. Marvel then went to an outside vendor to see the edit through.
If the rumors are true, then Alonso was likely becoming a nuisance that was costing the company time, money, and talent. Her refusal to do her job and enforce the censorship rule for overseas countries was likely a straw that broke the camel’s back, not the sole reason for her firing.
Alonso’s firing is also being interpreted by some as a sign of things to come. Disney is set to fire over 7,000 employees in the coming days, a move some are calling a “bloodbath” meant to save the company around $5 billion. Given Alonso’s position at the company and her reported unwillingness to bend about social justice issues in movies, people are beginning to wonder if CEO Bob Iger is looking to steer the ship that Walt built away from the overtly woke themes that Disney has adopted and get it back on course to be a family-friendly company.
(READ: There’s a ‘Bloodbath’ Happening at Disney and Woke Employees Are Being Led to the Chopping Block)
While that might be true, former Disney fans should probably not hold their breath. Despite the relentless beating Disney took from both fans and Florida legislators in 2022, the company is still entrenched in the stink of political idealism and it won’t be able to wash it off for some time.
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