The only thing that makes me more sick, than Disney, is corporate censorship. We have laws in this country, and one of the big ones is that speech will not be censored by the government. Unfortunately, we forgot to include something about censorship from other sources like big scary multinational corporations. Fear of loss of income, fear of losing ones job or fear of lawsuit can make people completely forget the values this country was founded on. This is how corporations like Disney choose your values for you.
Look at what is going on with House of Blues right now. Live Nation owns the chain of beautiful venues that are scattered across the United States. Two of these properties lie on land owned and managed by the Disney Corporation. Reports from the band Machine Head state that mysteriously their performance at the House of Blues in Anaheim, California was canceled, and shortly there after so was their performance at the House of Blues in Orlando, Florida. The band states:
“While no one is willing to provide evidence that would prove unfavorable to Disney, sources close to events have suggested that once again, vague threats of liability, and now threats on job security may have been levied, successfully resulting in the show being moved off of Disney property.”
This is extremely surprising. On a night I was performing at House of Blues there were flyers for Cradle of Filth appearing there everywhere you looked. I just did a check of the upcoming events at the House of Blues and found all Metal shows and Rap artists had been canceled. It now seems there is some sort of policy now dictating what acts can appear at a Live Nation owned venue residing on Disney’s property.
It’s hard to fault Live Nation on this one. When forced with the choice between canceling shows for a bunch of bearded metal-playing psychos or going to court with the Disney Co.’s lawyers they made the right choice. The fact that it’s completely unprofessional and unbecoming the most well known venues in the world is beside the point.
I can respect Disney’s right to choose what content they want performed, distributed on their Television channels, movies or in their theme parks. I really can’t respect a company who would pressure another company and threaten them over the way they choose to conduct business. Would most rational people go to a car mechanic who discriminated against women, or gays? Would you work out in a gym that said “no fat people”? I don’t see how forcing Live Nation to shut out acts is going to do anything but hurt both companies. This kind of McCarthyist thinking makes them both seem closed-minded and fascist.
