Disney is issuing an apology for what it claims is an “inappropriate” dad joke.
In an internal email, the entertainment giant celebrated the news its content brands collectively won 19 News and Documentary Emmy Awards.
And then it got weird.
A section labeled “dad jokes” read, “My four year-old son has been learning Spanish all year and he still can’t say the word ‘please.'”
“Which I think is poor for four,” it added.
Check out the email below:
Disney General Entertainment forced to apologize for…I'm not really sure what. Remember, you can never be woke enough so it's always better not to try. pic.twitter.com/qJHHnbN4xA
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) October 5, 2022
In an email later the same day, Disney wrote, “In today’s Stay Connected newsletter, there was an inappropriate joke.”
“It was never our intention to marginalize a language or a young person’s learning skills, and we apologize to anyone offended,” it continued.
The email added, “We strive to maintain a sense of belonging and uphold our belief in diversity, equity and inclusion within the company. We will do better.”
Karol Markowicz, a conservative commentator at the New York Post, shared screenshots of the email on Wednesday and wrote, “Disney General Entertainment forced to apologize for…I’m not really sure what.”
“Remember, you can never be woke enough so it’s always better not to try,” she added.
The email came amid Hispanic Heritage Month.
Was the joke funny? No, not really.
Was it so offensive and worthy of an apology? Probably not.
But the problem with trying to be super inclusive, or as conservatives would say of Disney, “woke,” tends to come with a sense of dread that you might cross a line and offend someone — even if you did not offend anyone in reality.
It is not clear whether employees complained about the joke or if the email was generated by a fear of a potential backlash. But this just highlights the perils of trying to make everyone happy and avoid offending anyone. That’s a good goal, but it makes it hard to enjoy life if you’re paralyzed by fear of saying or writing — without malicious intent — the wrong thing.