Disney has come under fire over a theme park show that it says is suitable for all ages even though it is littered with raunchy jokes about its characters using gay dating app Grindr and wanting to ‘pound’ each other.
Called Story Time with Deadpool, the show plays at Disney’s California Adventure park and is based on the Deadpool & Wolverine movie which hit streaming platforms last week and had the highest-ever domestic debut for an R-rated film.
It stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman as the eponymous anti-heroes who reluctantly team up to save the universe.
Although they are characters from Marvel comics and wear colorful costumes, it is anything but a children’s film as it features F-bombs aplenty, repeated references to hardcore sex acts and jokes about taking cocaine.
Disney has come under fire over a theme park show that it says is suitable for all ages even though it is littered with raunchy jokes about its characters using gay dating app Grindr
Called Story Time with Deadpool, the show plays at Disney’s California Adventure park and is based on the Deadpool & Wolverine movie
The theme park show doesn’t refer to drugs but courts just as much controversy as the movie.
It is Disney’s first theme park character experience which promotes an R-rated film and it takes the format of stand-up comedy. The show sees two theme park workers dressed as Deadpool and Wolverine cracking adult jokes despite being described on the Disneyland app as ‘family-friendly’ and ‘suitable for all ages’.
In one wisecrack, Deadpool says he has been on gay dating app Grindr and has seen the profile of Tony Stark, the billionaire alter ego of Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr.
In another, Deadpool volunteers to ‘pound’ a good-looking co-worker. An even more smutty segment sees Deadpool refer to Wolverine as ‘the bottom’ – a euphemism for a sex role in a gay relationship.
The Disneyland app says that Deadpool’s ‘tales will delight, charm, and inspire’ but not all theme park fans agree.
In the show, Deadpool volunteers to ‘pound’ a good-looking co-worker. An even more smutty segment sees Deadpool refer to Wolverine as ‘the bottom’
Deadpool & Wolverine hit streaming platforms last week and had the highest-ever domestic debut for an R-rated film
One on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, described it as ‘disgraceful and highly inappropriate’.
Another added ‘I love the character and his humor, but it doesn’t belong in the Disney parks.’
This was echoed on Instagram with the comment that ‘it shouldn’t be allowed in a children’s amusement park’ whilst another user said ‘the fact he mentions Grindr in a Disney park is mind-boggling to me.’
Although Deadpool & Wolverine is R-rated, Disney sells action figures of the characters in it.
The company has also announced that Deadpool will also appear on its newest cruise ship next year.
The Disneyland app says that Deadpool’s ‘tales will delight, charm, and inspire’ but not all theme park fans agree
‘The references to cocaine in Deadpool & Wolverine and the appearance of these characters promoting the movie in a Disney theme park and on Disney Cruises is not acceptable,’ says Peggy Sapp, president of the National Family Partnership, a campaign group founded in 1980 by Nancy Reagan and parents across America in response to the rising level of youth drug use.
‘We are all ultimately accountable for our behaviors, producers, directors and all in the movie industry can not pretend they are just portraying society norms, they must help make societal norms healthy.
‘Remember when all movie stars smoked in the movies? How did that ultimately work out? Drugs are no laughing matter, just read Matthew Perry’s book to understand the slippery slope.’
It is expected that Deadpool & Wolverine will feature in the upcoming kid-friendly Avengers: Secret Wars movie making it even more likely that its audience will want to watch the character’s adult adventure.
‘It is indeed a serious matter,’ adds Sapp. ‘Last year, 107,000 young people 18-45 died of Fentanyl poisoning. Drug use is no joke. Drug use is preventable when society works together to deliver no drug messages. Can we work together or will Disney choose profits over public health?’
Disney declined to provide a comment when contacted by DailyMail.com.
