Editor's Note: The following has been adapted with the author's permission from its original publication on Carolina Culture Warrior.
Earlier this year, this space spotlighted the embarrassing predicament that ABC and its cable operations (including Disney Channel and ESPN) have gotten The Walt Disney Company in: “Most television executives would have stopped the corruption going on at both networks a long time ago, but [Ben] Sherwood might be looking for a way to profit from the liberal bleed infecting both broadcasters.”
One example of that radical left agenda – the Shonda Rhimes drama Scandal – is ending this coming October after seven seasons over five years. Quite frankly, it does not come as a surprise, as Scandal’s cast and crew became increasingly unhinged in the show’s so-called “storytelling” and in public appearances. Needless to say, the cult-like show put the company in a difficult position.
Disney has one of the most wholesome, family-friendly public images in big business, while another division continued to tarnish that image, thanks to the popularity of this television program. Scandal has since waned after the infamous 2015 abortion episode.
The ship also started sinking with a 2014 episode where a school shooting took place. It was then when the fictional President Fitzgerald Grant (played by Hillary fan Tony Goldwyn) said this:
The right to bear arms — set in stone in the Constitution by our founding fathers. So was slavery, by the way. The right to bear arms — seems indisputable until the shooter comes, until you’re Lisa Elliot, covered in blood, watching a little girl take her last breath, watching the light go out of her eyes. And that, that is where the argument ends. That is when the debate is over.
The amazing thing is that Scandal lasted this long. Never in the history of television has a more influential and successful prime time soap opera alienated so many viewers. Getting an abortion to the tune of Silent Night, bashing Republicans as not believing in education, smearing “filthy country people” using a cartoonish caricature of now-President Donald Trump… you name it.
As a longtime Disney fan and a shareholder, it was fascinating to witness. While the popular Tim Allen-led sitcom Last Man Standing was cancelled despite good ratings, Scandal kept rolling – with ABC picking up other cartoonish left-wing smut (despite most of them seeing poor ratings).
With Scandal, Shonda Rhimes exposed her far-left beliefs, and cultivated a whole host of people sympathetic to her across Hollywood and the media. Her progressive point of view has unfortunately become mainstream in entertainment, and other television networks – even those aimed at preschoolers – have gotten away with pushing progressive propaganda with help from Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Planned Parenthood, and GLAAD.
While NewsBusters and other right-leaning outlets continued to look at these episodes more critically, most of the other media ignored them. In the end, Scandal wasn’t able to last more than seven seasons. This TV drama has shown the world that Rhimes wants 100 percent affirmation with no dissensions. It’s possible that Disney ended up realizing that their television division has taken a public opinion and ratings beating. Had Rhimes been around working at the company in the ’60s when television was at its prime, Walt himself wouldn’t be thrilled with her act.
Sayonara, Scandal. Alienating potential viewers can only go so far. Good riddance
