LEGO is the latest company facing boycott calls amid outrage over its A-Z of Awesome campaign, which supports the LGBTQ.
Last year, the LEGO Group announced the launch of its campaign as part of Pride Month—which takes place every June.
With the current discourse surrounding other companies’ campaigns in support of the LGBTQ, attention has been turned to LEGO.
British influencer Oli London—who previously identified as transracial, gender neutral and transgender—shared one of LEGO’s videos on Twitter over the weekend. The clip gave further insight into the A-Z of Awesome campaign.
The video was introduced as “the A-Z of awesome—a LEGO celebration of the beautiful, powerful language of the LGBTQIA+ community.”
A voiceover in the clip said: “We invited members of the community to build LEGO creations to represent their true stories.”
The line of LEGO “offers a universal, but most importantly a safe space to express yourself and be who you are,” said one participant, while another commented that the concept behind their build was “you see this colorful unique LEGO brick to represent a happy, healthy intersex person.”
A participant called Jeannie explained: “What I built here was a transgender garden, so all these different aspects of gender have their place in that garden.”
Captioning the clip, London, who serves as a spokesperson for Caitlyn Jenner’s political action committee Fairness First, wrote: “LEGO turns TRANS!”
“Children’s toy maker LEGO has released an LGBTQI+ range featuring transgender building sets for kids age 5+,” London continued. “Lego described the new range as ‘a colourful alphabet of identities and definitions made from LEGO bricks.'”
LEGO Group spokesperson told Newsweek: “The information on Twitter is false. We have not released any LGBTQIA+ sets aimed at children. A-Z of Awesome was a marketing campaign released last year that featured sets built by our amazing adult fans. None of these sets are for sale.”
London’s post sparked furor, with one Twitter user commenting that they were “adding […] #boycottlego” to their “collection of boycotts.”
“I have three nephews and two grown brothers who request LEGOs every birthday/Christmas. Not now. Never buying again,” wrote another.
“Not @LEGO_Group too!” said another detractor. “We loved you, LEGO, for being fun and staying out of politics. I guess my four kids and I will be going elsewhere for innocent kids’ toys going forward.”
“Please let @LEGO_Group be the next company to lose billions,” urged another. “Go woke, go broke.”
LEGO has dedicated a section of its website to its A-Z of Awesome campaign, which is described in a video as “an alphabet of builds created by LGBTQIA+ LEGO fans. Each build is an interpretation of a meaningful word.”
The company announced in April that its A-Z of Awesome LEGO creations would go on display at LEGO House in Billund, Denmark. The display will debut on June 8.
Back in April, a video went viral on social media showing an enraged LEGO store customer accusing the company of having an LGBTQ+ agenda. The customer berated multiple store employees for wearing LGBTQ+ badges, alongside the others they had on as part of their uniform.
Reacting to the clip, a LEGO Group spokesperson said: “The safety, wellbeing and security of our LEGO retail colleagues is our absolute priority, and we will not tolerate abuse of any kind.
“We are committed to building a more kind, empathetic and understanding society now, and for future generations, and stand by all our colleagues who do that every day by making everyone feel welcome in our stores.”
LEGO joins a host of companies facing boycott calls, including Target, which has been criticized for its clothing and accessories for LGBTQ+ Pride Month. Critics have called for the retailer to receive “the Bud Light treatment.”
https://www.cf.org/news/lego-faces-boycott-calls-over-transgender-building-sets/
Outrage on Twitter
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A TikTok clip of a man in a dress welcoming small children into a Disneyland boutique full of princess costumes has gone viral on social media.
The original video, which has racked up more than 7.1 million views as of Tuesday, was posted by self-described dental hygienist and mom of three Kourtni Faber’s account over the weekend.
In it, a man with a mustache wearing a gown waves enthusiastically to a child and introduces himself as Nick as the customer enters the store.
Watch:
“I’m here to shop you around and make all your selections for the day,” the employee says. The video pans around the store full of princess costumes on mannequins and states that price captions ranging from “$250” to “$450.”
The video goes on to show a female store employee in the same uniform helping a young girl get a princess makeover. The original poster included the caption, “A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you’re fast asleep #disneyland #bibbidibobbidiboutique #corememory.”
Many commenters on TikTok professed that they “love” Nick and said he’s been working at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for a while.
“This is insane,” one Twitter user wrote.
“Absolutely grooming. That is a moment for little girls. Mustache has no business there,” another account agreed.
“Disney is just an LGBT activist organization at this point,” another commenter wrote. “Any sane company would have backed down by now. Disney keeps doubling down because it would rather engage in political activism than return value.”
Another viewer echoed, “This is disturbing and sick. You are vile.”
Disney Parks updated its uniform policy in 2021 to allow employees, or as they’re referred to in the park, “cast members,” to wear gendered clothing of their preference regardless of their biological sex.
“We want our guests to see their own backgrounds and traditions reflected in the stories, experiences and products they encounter in their interactions with Disney,” a Disney official said in a statement at the time. “And we want our cast members — and future cast members — to feel a sense of belonging at work.”
Other changes to the dress code included that cast members no longer had to cover their tattoos if appropriate, and men were permitted to wear nail polish.
“Inclusion is essential to our culture and leads us forward as we continue to realize our rich legacy of engaging storytelling, exceptional service, and Disney magic,” the statement continued.
https://www.cf.org/news/disturbing-man-in-a-dress-welcoming-children-to-disneyland-sparks-outrage-on-twitter/
Fast food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A received backlash on social media as conservatives learned that the firm’s corporate office advances a number of diversity initiatives, a revelation which came as brands such as Bud Light and Target face criticism for embracing woke ideology.
Social media users noted that Chick-fil-A, which has a longstanding reputation as a firm run on the basis of conservative and Christian principles, hired Erick Reynolds as vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion two years ago. Chick-fil-A prominently features a number of diversity programs meant only for females and members of racial minorities on a DEI segment of its website, which surfaced in the days after Target and Bud Light witnessed sales and market capitalization hits.
Three years ago, Chick-fil-A Chairman Dan Cathy called for Americans to shine the shoes of their friends and neighbors in response to purported racism. Video of Cathy, who is white, shining the shoes of black Christian rapper Lecrae and exhorting listeners to have “a sense of shame, a sense of embarrassment” also went viral on social media in recent days.
Beyond collaborations with “various national diverse professional development organizations” such as the Women’s Foodservice Forum, the National Black MBA Association, and Association of Latino Professionals of America, the restaurant chain offers community groups such as Women in Business, the Black Employee Resource Group, and the Chick-fil-A Green Team. The company also seeks to develop “mentorship, development, and partnership opportunities for minority-owned businesses to strategically engage” with their supply chain.
Chick-fil-A additionally includes sexual orientation, gender identity, and “gender expression” in its employment nondiscrimination statement alongside race, sex, religion, and veteran status.
The firm created an evaluation of “top ESG issues that internal and external stakeholders expect to grow in importance in the next five years” for a recent sustainability report, which included “climate and energy stewardship” and diversity, equity, and inclusion. “While Chick-fil-A has long been committed to supporting our communities and being a responsible steward of all that is entrusted to us, companies like ours are increasingly expected to help address complex social and environmental challenges, especially those that most affect our industry,” the company said in the document.
Another sustainability report published last week likewise cited the firm’s commitment to diversity, noting that Chick-fil-A established a steering committee to provide insights for DEI initiatives and seeks to make diversity “an integral part of our culture of care.”
Skeptics of the ESG and DEI movements contend that the philosophies center on political and social causes, such as decreasing carbon emissions or diversifying company leadership, in a manner that distracts from profitability and uses corporate power to advance leftist agendas.
Target, which is experiencing a boycott after the retail behemoth marketed a female swimsuit as “tuck-friendly” and hired an artist who creates Satanic items to make various designs for the company, had published a similar sustainability report which called for supplier diversity among firms creating “Pride Month” apparel, as well as diversity initiatives for women and racial minorities.
Anheuser-Busch, the company which owns Bud Light and suffered after the brand partnered with social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney, has similar ESG commitments centered on various diversity and climate efforts.
Anheuser-Busch and Target, each of which are publicly traded, have seen their share prices plummet on the stock market as investors react to the boycott movements.
https://www.cf.org/news/chick-fil-a-faces-backlash-as-their-diversity-efforts-resurface/
Outrage on Twitter
