After being embroiled in another political controversy, The Walt Disney Co. said its Hulu streaming service will accept commercials for candidates and issue advertisements.
Disney got blasted on social media after Democratic Party campaign organizations tried to buy ad time on Hulu and got turned down. The hashtag #BoycottHulu trended on Twitter on Tuesday after The Washington Post reported on the ads being refused by Hulu although they ran on Disney-owned ABC station WPVI Philadelphia and on Disney-owned ESPN.
The new dustup followed Disney’s difficulties in Florida, where it flip-flopped on its opposition to the state’s so-called Don’t Say Gay laws, first angering employees and then becoming a target in culture war campaigning by Republicans including Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, where Walt Disney World is located.
In a statement, Disney said that it had taken a look at how it approaches political advertising.
“After a thorough review of ad policies across its linear networks and streaming platforms over the last few months, Disney is now aligning Hulu’s political advertising policies to be consistent with the Company’s general entertainment and sports cable networks and ESPN Plus,” Disney said in a statement. “Hulu will now accept candidate and issue advertisements covering a wide spectrum of policy positions, but reserves the right to request edits or alternative creative, in alignment with industry standards.” ■
