Disney has finally angered the wrong audience, as evidenced by the Twitter trend #DisneyIsOverParty. The primary reason for the anti-Disney trend, ironically, has nothing to do with the relatively serious threats the company’s recent actions might pose to thousands of people. This particular issue is mostly a result of Disney drawing the ire of the BTS army.
These “X is over party” hashtags are one of the more entertaining parts of what people consider cancel culture. The concept of canceling is practically nonexistent since hardly anyone is ever truly forced off social media or driven to stop whatever thing they were doing to earn such harsh judgment in the court of public opinion. The cancel party hashtags tend to embrace that the offending entity isn’t going to actually stop, but should still be ridiculed for fun while the internet is mad at them. They’re more “fun” than “outrage”.
The current cancel party is related to Disney and its clearly blasphemous handling of BTS during this Summer’s ARDY’s presentation. The event is typically a musical showcase of kid-and-teen-friendly performances, so the company felt it would be a good idea to feature BTS in the show. Unfortunately, the inexplicable choice was made to include just seconds of the Korean Pop megastars on-screen, while playing a version of their hit song “Boy With Luv” that was actually a cover from Sofia Carson. The BTS Army (the band’s fans) responded with the hashtag on Twitter, starting the party.
Unexpected Guests Joined the #DisneyIsOverParty
One neat thing about cancel parties is they draw crowds who may not even know what the party is celebrating. That’s the case here as the hashtag was eventually hijacked by people with all manner of Disney-related grievances to air online. There are posts from old Star Wars fans angry about the company’s handling of the franchise since taking the reins and releasing the new trilogy. There’s an appearance from people upset that we don’t have officially licensed Baby Yoda plushies. Some people are even taking this opportunity to let Disney know how they really feel about the infamous, live-action Aladdin remake.
On the other side of the party, there’s the crowd of people expressing issues with the issue. Many people feel that if Disney should be canceled for something, it should be the imminent reopening of Disney World theme parks in Florida, a state currently experiencing record numbers of positive COVID-19 tests. Twitter users say the complaints about the BTS appearance risk detracting from a potentially important conversation about capitalism and the dangers of prioritizing profit over public safety. Maybe we’ll get to that later, though.
