Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley slammed Disney for thanking Communist Chinese leaders in Xinjiang in the credits of its live-action “Mulan” remake Wednesday, going on to request that Disney answer questions about the ongoing human rights abuses in the region.
Disney came under fire this week after movie-goers noticed the company offered “special thanks” to the regional authorities in Xinjiang, China for assisting the movie’s production. Xinjiang is the region where the Chinese Communist Party has forced more than a million Uighur Muslims into re-education camps. Hawley condemned Disney in strong terms.
“How exactly does giving ‘special thanks’ to the officials responsible for imprisoning, torturing, and forcibly sterilizing millions of people because of their ethnicities and beliefs align with your supposed commitment to promoting human dignity and respecting human rights,” Hawley asked in a Wednesday letter to Disney executives. (RELATED: ‘Betrayal Of The American People’: Biden Slams Trump On Woodward Tapes)
Why is @Disney thanking the repressive #China secret police involved in the #Uighur concentration camps? I’d like some answers pic.twitter.com/ezuB0hg1sk
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) September 9, 2020
The letter goes on to request that Disney answer nine questions by September 30th. The questions pertain to whether Disney acknowledges the human rights abuses in Xinjiang, why they chose to film in the region, and whether the company will donate proceeds from the movie to fight human trafficking.
Hawley’s office is “looking at our options” should Disney fail to answer the questions, a person familiar with Hawley’s plans told the Daily Caller.
Hawley sent the letter hours before President Donald Trump added Hawley to his shortlist of potential Supreme Court nominees. Hawley thanked the president on Twitter, but said he was focused on remaining a senator.
I appreciate the President’s confidence in listing me as a potential Supreme Court nominee. But as I told the President, Missourians elected me to fight for them in the Senate, and I have no interest in the high court. I look forward to confirming constitutional conservatives
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) September 9, 2020
Trump also named two other Republican senators to the list, including Ted Cruz of Texas and Tom Cotton of Arkansas.