Prime Minister Apologizes For Canceling Disney+, Acknowledges Privilege
After angering her constituents with an analogy deemed out of touch and tone deaf about canceling her Disney+ subscription, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has apologized.
After getting blasted by her constituents for equating her decision to cancel her Disney+ subscription to the financial woes of everyday people, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has walked back her comments. As reported by The Star, on Monday the Deputy PM acknowledged her privilege compared to the average Canadian citizen.
“I am a very privileged person, for sure,” Freeland said. “Like other elected federal leaders, I am paid a really significant salary. I really recognize that it is not people like me, people who have my really good fortune, who are struggling the most in Canada.”
Over the weekend, as reported by Yahoo! and others, Freeland angered many Canadians after using her decision of cutting her Disney+ subscription as an example of how others could deal with the rising cost of living. “I personally, as a mother and wife, look carefully at my credit card bill once a month,” Freeland said.
“And last Sunday, I said to the kids, ‘you’re older now. You don’t watch Disney anymore. Let’s cut that Disney+ subscription.”
Now, in case you’re wondering–no, the outrage toward Freeland had nothing to do with Canadians being particularly passionate Disney+ fans.
Instead, many people in the country took the anecdote in the context of the higher cost of living to be out of touch, reeking of privilege, tone deaf, and insulting. Some also argued it fed into the idea that people of lower income are not deserving of creature comforts like subscriptions to Disney+ or other streaming services. You can see some examples of the Canadians’ criticisms below.
“They are people across the country who earn a low income, who really do find that today’s high prices mean they have to make difficult choices about what food to buy, about whether to buy groceries or pull together the money to pay the rent,” Chrystia Freeland said in her statement earlier this week, while walking back her Disney+ anecdote. “It is that recognition that the people in Canada who are struggling for whom inflation really is a direct, personal challenge.”
While Chrystia Freeland’s Disney+ example may have been tone deaf, the truth is that examining streaming service costs is something we’re all being forced to do right now; along with everything else. Services like Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, and yes Disney+ either have already raised prices or are in the process of doing so.
There has so far been no discussion about why the Deputy Prime Minister’s children weren’t watching Disney+. Okay, they might not want to watch Bluey anymore, but there’s still all the Marvel movies and all the Star Wars content. And they’ll be merging with Hulu soon, opening up more mature content.
I mean, come on, Freeland’s kids. Stop reading so many books and binge The Mandalorian already. Have you seen Baby Yoda? Forget about it.
