Evangelist Franklin Graham is calling on Christians to boycott Disney due to the company’s promotion of homosexuality in its children’s movies and cartoons.
Pointing to the inclusion of a gay character in the upcoming “Beauty and the Beast” live-action remake, Mr. Graham said Disney is “trying to push the LGBT agenda into the hearts and minds of your children.”
“Disney has the right to make their cartoons, it’s a free country,” Mr. Graham wrote on Facebook Thursday. “But as Christians we also have the right not to support their company. I hope Christians everywhere will say no to Disney.”
The evangelist said Walt Disney would be “shocked at what has happened to the company that he started.”
Bill Condon, the director of “Beauty and the Beast,” told Attitude Magazine last week the film would feature an “exclusively gay moment” involving the villain Gaston’s sidekick LeFou.
One drive-in theater in Alabama seems to have already taken Mr. Graham up on the boycott.
Henegar Drive-In Theatre announced in a Facebook post Friday it would no longer screen the movie, which is set to be released March 17.
“For those that do not know ’Beauty and the Beast’ is ’premiering’ their first homosexual character,” the theater wrote. “The producer also says at the end of the movie ’there will be a surprise for same-sex couples.’ If we can not take our 11 year old grand daughter and 8 year old grandson to see a movie we have no business watching it.”
An episode of Disney XD’s “Star vs the Forces of Evil” earlier this year featured same-sex couples kissing.
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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