title: Don Ho

text: Ho's music used typical 1960s pop arrangements, which meant light instrumentation and Hammond organs. He was well-positioned to capitalize on the newly admitted state's growing popularity as a tourist destination during the decade due to cheap air travel and the popularity of Tiki bars. His shows would be attended by celebrities in addition to ordinary tourists.


title: Don Ho

text: During the second half of the decade, a growing movement emerged in Hawaii to produce more traditional forms of music that subtly accused Ho of being too commercialized and marketed to tourists. His popularity never seriously suffered however, and his shows remained popular with vacationers.


title: Don Ho

text: Guest appearances on television series such as "I Dream of Jeannie", "The Brady Bunch", "Sanford and Son", "Batman", "Charlie's Angels", "McCloud" and "Fantasy Island" soon followed. Although his album sales peaked in the late 1960s, he was able to land a television series on ABC from October 1976 to March 1977 with "The Don Ho Show" variety program which aired on weekday mornings.


title: Don Ho

text: Ho had ten children: six with his wife and four more from two subsequent relationships. His children often worked with him, either onstage, backstage, or with his business. He loved to work with his children, teaching them the entertainment business. His daughter Hoku performed with him in his Waikīkī show and in 2000 went on to become a nationally known recording artist in her own right. In 2005, he sang a song that was used as the opening theme to the direct-to-video and DVD movie "Aloha, Scooby-Doo!".


title: Don Ho

text: Ho lived at his Diamond Head residence, raising his young family with their mothers. In 1995, at age 65, Ho suffered a mild stroke and his health began a steady decline. By 2002, he had developed cardiomegaly, an enlarged heart, unrelated to coronary artery disease, leaving him with only 30% of normal cardiac capacity. Despite his failing health, Ho was always hopeful, and resilient to find a solution to his health issues. He also continued his nightly performances, making a few concessions such as trading in his glass of Scotch that he kept on top of his piano at shows for pineapple juice.


title: Don Ho

text: Ho was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy in 2005 and had a pacemaker implanted. Ho still experienced a number of problems afterwards, including an episode when his pacemaker malfunctioned during a concert. On another occasion, he was making repairs to the roof of his house when his heart suddenly started racing. He contacted a biotechnology company specializing in treating heart conditions with adult stem cells working in conjunction with Dr. Shoa, cardiac surgeon and pioneer of the use of adult stem cells for heart disease. On December 6, 2005, Ho had his own blood-derived stem cells injected into his heart by Amit Patel and his fellow surgeons in Thailand. The treatment went without incident and it was reported that his heart would be boosted back to 75% capacity. Later in the month, Ho said, "I'm feeling much better and I'm so happy I came up here to do it." In regard to his health problems, he remarked "I'd been going around for years acting like I was 40. And then when all this happened, someone told me 'You're 75.' Everyone gets old. Why did I think I was exempt?"


title: Don Ho

text: In September 2006, Ho married Haumea Hebenstreit, who was a production assistant for his show at the Waikīkī Beachcomber. A few days later, Ho went into cardiac arrest. Although he had a new pacemaker installed on September 16, 2006, he collapsed and died in his Waikīkī apartment from heart failure on April 14, 2007. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea.


title: Don Ho

text: Since Ho's death, his estate has been in limbo because of numerous management conflicts and legal changes that transpired while he was struggling with his mental and physical health.


title: Sleepover (film)

text: Sleepover is a 2004 American teen comedy film directed by Joe Nussbaum, in his feature film directorial debut. The film stars Alexa Vega and Mika Boorem with supporting roles from Jane Lynch, Sara Paxton, Brie Larson, Steve Carell and Jeff Garlin.


title: Sleepover (film)

text: It was released theatrically in the United States on July 9, 2004 and was both a box office and critical failure upon its release, but has since become a cult classic among fans who viewed the film through the ancillary market in subsequent years.


title: Sleepover (film)

text: On the last day of 8th grade before their freshman year in high school, Julie Corky has a slumber party with three best friends, Hannah Carlson, Farrah James, and Yancy Williams. A group of popular girls, led by a former friend of Julie's, Staci Blake, challenge the girls to a scavenger hunt after Staci's boyfriend dumps her, barring her from the high school dance. The prize is a coveted lunchtime seat near the fountain in high school, where the popular kids sit. The losers will sit at tables near the school's dumpsters.


title: Sleepover (film)

text: The list includes things like a picture of the girls with a date inside an exclusive nightclub, the insignia from a local private security firm, a pair of boxers from Steve Phillips (a boy that Julie has a crush on) and to dress an Old Navy mannequin with their own clothing. After instructing her older brother Ren to keep her parents believing that they are still home, the girls sneak out of Julie's house, using Yancy's father's Hypermini to travel to different locations and get the required objects. Along the way they dodge a Patroltec security guard and try to keep Julie's parents Gabby and Jay from discovering their absence. At the club, the four sneak in and Julie finds out that her date is her schoolteacher. Understanding her situation, he buys her a drink. Julie drops her scarf, which Gabby finds at the same club and attempts to call Julie about. When Julie uses a skateboard to go home quickly when the Hypermini gets boxed in traffic, Steve Philips sees Julie skateboarding in a dress and is impressed. Afterward, Julie sneaks into Steve's house and narrowly escapes him in the bathroom, before grabbing his boxers and leaving. The girls meanwhile try to find a way to charge their car, and Staci and her team alert Patroltec about a suspicious person at Steve's house. Finally before running away they grab the Patroltec insignia on the security guard's car. Later the girls meet up at the school dance, but both groups have obtained all listed items.


title: Sleepover (film)

text: Staci suggests a tiebreaker, where the group which is able to get the crown from the homecoming king or queen will win. Staci catches her boyfriend, Todd, dancing with and kissing another girl who claims that she has been Todd's girlfriend for six months. After the two break up, Staci shares a dance with a scruffy skater friend of Julie's, Russell. Russell drops his copy of the scavenger hunt list, which Steve finds. Steve ends up named homecoming king and picks Julie as his partner for a victory dance, giving her the crown and ensuring victory for her friends.


title: Sleepover (film)

text: After the dance, Julie and Steve are about to kiss when Ren notifies her that Gabby is headed home. The girls run home where Julie drops the crown, and pretend to be sleeping just as Julie's parents check on them. The next morning at breakfast, Gabby confronts her asking "exactly" what they did last night, showing Julie the scarf she had dropped in the Cosmo club. Surprisingly, she is not mad but confesses her amazement at how fast Julie is maturing. After she says goodbye to her friends, Julie finds Steve waiting inside her tree fort with her lost crown, where the two begin kissing passionately. The film ends with a scene of Staci and her friends, now in high school, eating their lunch by the school dumpsters among the trash and the social rejects.


title: Sleepover (film)

text: The film underperformed, opening at #10 in the box office with $4,171,226. The film would later make $9,436,390 in the United States and $712,563 internationally, resulting in a $10,148,953 gross worldwide, on a $10 million budget.


title: Sleepover (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 15% based on 101 reviews, with an average rating of 3.7/10. The site's critics' consensus reads, "Tween girls will enjoy this sugar coated fluff, but others will find "Sleepover" a snooze." On Metacritic the film has a score of 33% based on reviews from 29 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


title: Cotton Club

text: The Cotton Club was a New York City nightclub from 1923 to 1940. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue (1923–1936), then briefly in the midtown Theater District (1936–1940). The club operated during the United States' era of Prohibition and Jim Crow era racial segregation. Black people initially could not patronize the Cotton Club, but the venue featured many of the most popular black entertainers of the era, including musicians Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Chick Webb, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Fats Waller, Willie Bryant; vocalists Adelaide Hall, Ethel Waters, Cab Calloway, Bessie Smith, Aida Ward, Avon Long, the Dandridge Sisters, the Will Vodery Choir, The Mills Brothers, Nina Mae McKinney, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, and dancers such as Katherine Dunham, Bill Robinson, The Nicholas Brothers, Charles 'Honi' Coles, Leonard Reed, Stepin Fetchit, the Berry Brothers, The Four Step Brothers, Jeni Le Gon and Earl Snakehips Tucker.


title: Cotton Club

text: At its prime, the Cotton Club served as a hip meeting spot, with regular "Celebrity Nights" on Sundays featuring guests such as Jimmy Durante, George Gershwin, Sophie Tucker, Paul Robeson, Al Jolson, Mae West, Richard Rodgers, Irving Berlin, Eddie Cantor, Fanny Brice, Langston Hughes, Judy Garland, Moss Hart, and Jimmy Walker, among others.


title: Cotton Club

text: In 1920, heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson rented the upper floor of the building on the corner of 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue in the heart of Harlem and opened an intimate supper club called the Club Deluxe. Owney Madden, a prominent bootlegger and gangster, took over the club after his release from Sing Sing in 1923 and changed its name to the Cotton Club. The two arranged a deal that allowed Johnson to remain the club's manager. Madden "used the Cotton Club as an outlet to sell his #1 beer to the prohibition crowd".


title: Cotton Club

text: When the club closed briefly in 1925 for selling liquor, it soon reopened without interference from the police. An extensive drink list continued to be available on the Cotton Club menu and sold to white guests following the shut down. Herman Stark then became the stage manager. Harlem producer Leonard Harper directed the first two of three opening night floor-shows at the new venue.


title: Cotton Club

text: The Cotton Club was a whites-only establishment with rare exceptions for black celebrities such as Ethel Waters and Bill Robinson. It reproduced the racist imagery of the era, often depicting black people as savages in exotic jungles or as "darkies" in the plantation South. A 1938 menu inclued this imagery, with illustrations done by Julian Harrison, showing naked black men and women dancing around a drum in the jungle. Tribal mask illustrations make up the border of the menu.


title: Cotton Club

text: The club imposed a subtler color line on the chorus girls, whom the club presented in skimpy outfits. They were expected to be "tall, tan, and terrific," that meant they had to be at least 5'6" tall, light-skinned, and under 21 years of age. The male dancers', the Cotton Club Boys, skin colors were more varied. "Black performers did not mix with the club's clientele, and after the show many of them went next door to the basement of the superintendent at 646 Lenox, where they imbibed corn whiskey, peach brandy, and marijuana."


title: Cotton Club

text: Ellington was expected to write "jungle music" for a white audience; Ellington's contributions to the Cotton Club were priceless, as described in this 1937 "New York Times" excerpt: "So long may the empirical Duke and his music making roosters reign—and long may the Cotton Club continue to remember that it came down from Harlem". Entrance was expensive for customers, and it included a two dollar minimum cover fee on weekdays for food and drink, so the performers were well-compensated.


title: Cotton Club

text: Shows at the Cotton Club were musical revues, and several were called "Cotton Club Parade" followed by the year. Musical revues were created twice a year in hopes of becoming successful Broadway shows. The revues featured dancers, singers, comedians, and variety acts, as well as a house band. These revues helped launch the careers of many artists, including Andy Preer, who led the Cotton Club's first house band in 1923. Duke Ellington's orchestra was the house band from December 4, 1927, until June 30, 1931.


title: Cotton Club

text: The first revue that Ellington's orchestra performed was called "Rhythmania" and featured Adelaide Hall. Hall had just recorded several songs with Ellington, including "Creole Love Call," that became a worldwide hit. The club gave Ellington national exposure through radio broadcasts originating there, first over WHN, then over WEAF, and after September 1929 on Fridays over the NBC Red Network, for which WEAF was the flagship station.


title: Cotton Club

text: The club also enabled him to develop his repertoire while composing dance tunes for the shows as well overtures, transitions, accompaniments, and "jungle" effects, giving him a freedom to experiment with orchestral arrangements that touring bands rarely experienced. Ellington recorded more than 100 compositions during this period. Eventually, responding to Ellington's request, the club slightly relaxed its policy of segregation.


title: Cotton Club

text: Cab Calloway's orchestra brought its "Brown Sugar" revue to the club in 1930, replacing Ellington's orchestra after its departure in 1931. Jimmie Lunceford's band replaced Calloway's in 1934. Ellington, Calloway, and Louis Armstrong returned to perform at the club in later years. Lena Horne (Leona Laviscount) began at the Cotton Club as a chorus girl at the age of sixteen, and sang "Sweeter than Sweet" with Calloway. Dorothy Dandridge performed at the club while part of the Dandridge Sisters, and Coleman Hawkins and Don Redman played at the club as part of Henderson's band. Tap dancers Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Sammy Davis Jr. (as part of the Will Mastin Trio), and the Nicholas Brothers performed at the club as well.


title: Cotton Club

text: Another notable "Cotton Club Parade" in 1933 featured Ethel Waters, and Duke Ellington performing Stormy Weather. Later this performance would also include Lena Horne, and Katherine Dunham in the film adaptation of Stormy Weather. The club also drew from white popular culture. Walter Brooks, who had produced the successful Broadway show "Shuffle Along", was the club's nominal owner. Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh, one of the most prominent songwriting teams of the era, and Harold Arlen wrote the songs for the revues, one of which, "Blackbirds of 1928", starring Adelaide Hall, featured the songs "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and "Diga Diga Doo," produced by Lew Leslie on Broadway.


title: Cotton Club

text: In 1934, Hall starred in the "Cotton Club Parade 1934," the highest-grossing show ever to appear at the club. The show opened on March 11, 1934, and ran for six months, attracting over 600,000 paying customers. The score was written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler and featured the classic song "Ill Wind." During Hall's performance of "Ill Wind," a dry-ice machine was used to create a fog effect, the first time such equipment had been used on a stage. Sixteen-year-old Lena Horne was also featured on the bill. After appearing at the Cotton Club the entire show starring Adelaide Hall was taken out on a road tour across America.


title: Cotton Club

text: The club closed temporarily in 1936 after the race riot in Harlem the previous year. Carl Van Vechten had vowed to boycott the club for having such racist policies as refusing entry to African Americans in place. The Cotton Club reopened later that year at Broadway and 48th. The site chosen for the new Cotton Club was a big room on the top floor of a building where Broadway and Seventh Avenue meet, an important midtown crossroads at the center of the Great White Way, the Broadway Theater District.


title: Cotton Club

text: Stark and the club's owners were quite certain the club would succeed in this new location, but they realized that success depended on a popular opening show. A 1937 "New York Times" article states, "The Cotton Club has climbed aboard the Broadway bandwagon, with a show that is calculated to give the customers their money’s worth of sound and color—and it does."


title: Cotton Club

text: The most extravagant revue in the club's 13-year history opened on September 24, 1936, with Robinson and Calloway leading a roster of approximately 130 performers. Stark paid Bill "Bojangles" Robinson $3,500 a week, the highest salary ever paid to a black entertainer in a Broadway production and a higher salary than had ever been paid to any nightclub entertainer.


title: Cotton Club

text: In June 1935, the Cotton Club opened its doors to black patrons. In preparation for the Joe Louis fight the club planned a gala and, "extended an open invitation to the Sepians."


title: Cotton Club

text: The Cotton Club closed permanently in 1940 under pressure from higher rents, changing taste, and a federal investigation into tax evasion by Manhattan nightclub owners. The Latin Quarter nightclub opened in its space and the building was torn down in 1989 to build a hotel. The Broadway Cotton Club successfully blended the old and new; the site was new and the décor was slightly different, but once a customer was seated it felt like a familiar place.


title: Cotton Club

text: Madden's goal for the Cotton Club was to provide "an authentic black entertainment to a wealthy, whites-only audience." Langston Hughes, a key figure of the Harlem Renaissance, attended the Cotton Club as a rare black customer. Following his visit, Hughes criticized the club's segregated atmosphere and commented that it was "a Jim Crow club for gangsters and monied whites."


title: Cotton Club

text: In addition to the "jungle music" and plantation-themed interior, Hughes believed that Madden's idea of "authentic black entertainment" was similar to the entertainment provided at a zoo and that white "strangers were given the best ringside tables to sit and stare at the Negro customers - like amusing animals in a zoo."


title: Cotton Club

text: Hughes also believed that the Cotton Club negatively affected the Harlem community. The club brought an "influx of whites toward Harlem after sundown, flooding the little cabarets and bars where formerly only colored people laughed and sang." Hughes also mentioned how many of the neighboring cabarets, especially black cabarets, were forced to close due to the competition from the Cotton Club. These smaller clubs did not have a large floor or music by famous entertainers such as Ellington.


title: Cotton Club

text: An incarnation of the Cotton Club opened on 125th Street in Harlem in 1978. James Haskins wrote at the time, "Today, there is a new incarnation of the Cotton Club that sits on the most western end of the 125th Street under the massive Manhattanville viaduct. The windowless block of a building has a less dramatic display out front but seems to be popular with tourists for Sunday jazz brunches."


title: Cotton Club

text: A Chicago branch of the Cotton Club was run by Ralph Capone, and a California branch was located in Culver City during the late 1920s and early 1930s, featuring performers from the original Cotton Club such as Armstrong, Calloway, and Ellington.


title: Cotton Club

text: Cotton Clubs in Las Vegas, Portland, Oregon, and Lubbock, Texas were all different locations of other Cotton Clubs. The Lubbock club was opened on November 11, 1938, by Tommy Hancock, and was an integrated club, not unlike the Chicago club. The club in Lubbock, however, was home to more white artists than the Harlem club. The Cotton Club in Portland was opened by Paul Knauls in 1963. The club in Las Vegas was opened by Moe Taub in 1944. This location differed from other clubs because it was a casino. Taub opened the club to black servicemen.


title: Cotton Club

text: The Cotton Club is featured in the music video for the song "Oye Como Va" by Cuban-American singer Celia Cruz.


title: Cotton Club

text: The "Cotton Club Gala", which featured some of the club's original dancers, was produced at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club twice in 1975 and again in 1985. The 1985 production was directed by La MaMa founder Ellen Stewart. La MaMa also toured Europe with the "Cotton Club Gala" in 1976.


title: Cotton Club

text: The 1983 music video for the Kool & the Gang song "Joanna" depicts Joanna reminiscing about her days as a dancer at the Cotton Club.


title: Cotton Club

text: Francis Ford Coppola's 1984 film "The Cotton Club" offers a history of the club in the context of race relations in the 1930s and the conflicts between Madden, Dutch Schultz, Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, Lucky Luciano, and Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson.


title: Cotton Club

text: "The Cotton Club Comes to the Ritz" (1985) starring Adelaide Hall, Cab Calloway, Doc Cheatham, The Nicholas Brothers etc. Produced by BBC TV.


title: Cotton Club

text: In the 1988 film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", the fictional Ink and Paint Club is based on the Cotton Club.


title: Cotton Club

text: The Cotton Club was briefly depicted in the 1997 movie "Hoodlum" featuring Laurence Fishburne, Tim Roth, and Andy García as the site of a confrontation between Schultz (Roth) and Johnson (Fishburne).


title: Cotton Club

text: The club is mentioned in the novelization of the 1998 "" episode "Far Beyond the Stars". The novelization mentions that Benny Russell's parents met at the Cotton Club when Russell's mother was a dancer there and gives some descriptive detail of the club.


title: Cotton Club

text: "After Midnight" is a 2013 Broadway musical revue about the music created during Duke Ellington's years at the Cotton Club.


title: Avantasia

text: Avantasia is a German supergroup metal opera project created by Tobias Sammet, vocalist of the band Edguy. It has been characterized as a rock opera, as it features the contributions of various vocalists and musicians and it consists of concept albums.


title: Avantasia

text: Conceived in 1999 as studio-only, two-album project, Avantasia has since released seven other studio albums and has toured the world multiple times. It can be divided into four periods of activity. The first, 1999–2002, saw the release of a self-titled single and the full-length albums "The Metal Opera" and "The Metal Opera Part II". The second, 2006–2011, consists of the EPs "Lost in Space Part I & II" and The Wicked Trilogy, composed of the albums "The Scarecrow", "The Wicked Symphony" and "Angel of Babylon". The third, 2013–2016, includes the albums "The Mystery of Time" and "Ghostlights". The fourth period, 2019–2022, comprises the albums "Moonglow" and "A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society".


title: Avantasia

text: Some of the guest vocalists and musicians that have been featured on Avantasia are Michael Kiske, Jørn Lande, Alice Cooper, Klaus Meine, Dee Snider, Hansi Kürsch, Jon Oliva, Biff Byford, Joe Lynn Turner, Tim "Ripper" Owens, Geoff Tate, Kai Hansen, Rudolf Schenker, Bruce Kulick, Sascha Paeth, Eric Singer, Bob Catley, Roy Khan, Russell Allen, Timo Tolkki, Rob Rock, David DeFeis, Andre Matos, Sharon den Adel, Floor Jansen, Ralf Scheepers, Marko Hietala, Arjen Anthony Lucassen, Henjo Richter, Markus Grosskopf, Jens Johansson, Eric Martin, Ronnie Atkins, Oliver Hartmann, Mille Petrozza, Candice Night and Amanda Somerville.


title: Avantasia

text: In Spring 1999, during Edguy's 'Theater of Salvation' tour, Tobias Sammet began to outline his ideas for a metal opera concept album featuring a number of guest musicians. When the tour finished, he began collaborating with metal vocalists like Michael Kiske, Andre Matos, Kai Hansen, Rob Rock, David Defeis, Sharon den Adel, Bob Catley and Oliver Hartmann to record the project. At this stage the core band consisted of four members, Sammet on keyboards, Henjo Richter on guitar, Markus Grosskopf on bass and Alex Holzwarth on drums. In 2001, a self-titled single and the first full-length album, "The Metal Opera", were released. The project went on hiatus after the release of "The Metal Opera Part II" in September 2002.


title: Avantasia

text: At the end of 2006, Sammet confirmed the rumours of a third Avantasia album, due for release in 2008. Two EPs named "Lost in Space Part I" and "Part II" were released on 19 November 2007, while the full-length album, "The Scarecrow", was released on 25 January 2008. "The Scarecrow" marked the first chapter of "The Wicked Trilogy" concept and was also the first of many Avantasia releases to feature Sascha Paeth on the role of main guitarist and producer. The album included guest performances by drummer Eric Singer, guitarists Henjo Richter and Rudolf Schenker and singers Jørn Lande, Michael Kiske, Bob Catley, Alice Cooper, Roy Khan, Amanda Somerville and Oliver Hartmann.


title: Avantasia

text: After the release of "The Scarecrow", Tobias Sammet was invited to perform a headlining show at Wacken Open Air, an offer that producer/guitarist Sascha Paeth convinced him to accept. That led to 13 shows between 5 July and 13 August. The shows at Masters of Rock and Wacken Open Air were recorded and the live DVD The Flying Opera, based on the footage, was released in March 2011. The line-up for the short tour consisted of Tobias Sammet, Andre Matos, Jørn Lande, Kai Hansen, Bob Catley, Amanda Somerville, Cloudy Yang, Sascha Paeth, Oliver Hartmann, Robert Hunecke, Miro and Felix Bohnke (Edguy).


title: Avantasia

text: In November 2009, Sammet announced that he was recording two new albums, "The Wicked Symphony" and "Angel of Babylon", to be released on 3 April 2010. The concept of the albums was a continuation of The Scarecrow story and these three albums together are often referred to as "The Wicked Trilogy". The special guests included drummers Eric Singer, Alex Holzwarth and Felix Bohnke, guitarists Bruce Kulick and Oliver Hartmann, keyboardist Jens Johansson and vocalists Jørn Lande, Russell Allen, Michael Kiske, Bob Catley, Klaus Meine, Tim "Ripper" Owens, Jon Oliva, Andre Matos, Cloudy Yang and Ralf Zdiarstek. "The Scarecrow", "The Wicked Symphony" and "Angel of Babylon" have scored high positions in various international music charts.


title: Avantasia

text: A 12 show tour of Europe, South America and Asia took place during December 2010, with the exception of one concert at the Wacken Open Air festival in August 2011. The concerts lasted for almost three hours and many of them were sold out days before. The ensemble was almost the same as on The Scarecrow Tour in 2008, with two changes. Andre Matos was replaced by ex-Helloween and current Unisonic singer Michael Kiske (with Kai Hansen also participating on this tour, there were a lot of instances when the two ex-Helloween members shared the same stage) and the fact that Cloudy Yang was not part of the line-up.


title: Avantasia

text: Both tours were closely documented by Amanda Somerville on her YouTube channel. The videos show various interesting backstage moments such as rehearsals, cancelled flights, or the ensemble travelling by a regular train.


title: Avantasia

text: In August 2012, Sammet announced that ""I didn‘t foresee how much I need Avantasia when I decided to finish this chapter of my life in 2011. After the worldwide success of the latest studio releases, an arena world tour that was sold out pretty much everywhere, collaborations with childhood heroes...I 'knew' that I had said everything I could possibly say in the name of Avantasia. But that's not what Avantasia is all about. I wanna create more great music, I wanna create more fantasy-worlds, the bigger and the more epic, the better. And listening to the material that I have created for this forthcoming chapter in the history of Avantasia, I know there is no way I am not going to do it! I have got the feeling and the certainty, that this is absolutely meant to happen and to be.""


title: Avantasia

text: During December 2012 it was revealed on Sammet's Avantasia website that the new album would be called "The Mystery of Time" and was due for release on 30 March 2013. "The Mystery of Time" marked the beginning of a new concept and was the first Avantasia release to feature the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg. The album included guest performances by drummer Russell Gilbrook, guitarists Bruce Kulick, Oliver Hartmann and Arjen Anthony Lucassen, while the guest vocalists were Joe Lynn Turner, Biff Byford, Michael Kiske, Ronnie Atkins, Eric Martin, Bob Catley and Cloudy Yang. "The Mystery Of Time" scored high positions in several international music charts and even enabled the project to enter the US Billboard charts for the very first time.


title: Avantasia

text: Avantasia's second biggest world tour took place between April and August 2013. The tour consisted of 30 concerts and included 7 headlining festival appearances in Europe, one festival performance in Canada and three hour long shows in South America, Japan, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Holland. The line-up for the tour consisted of vocalists Tobias Sammet, Michael Kiske, Ronnie Atkins, Eric Martin, Bob Catley, Thomas Rettke, Amanda Somerville and musicians Sascha Paeth, Oliver Hartmann, Miro, Andre Neygenfind and Felix Bohnke.


title: Avantasia

text: According to Sammet: ""I wanna put on the biggest thing you have ever seen, I wanna bring more vocalists, play longer shows, and just make it a giant Rock Opera. I love to headline festivals, you run over people in 90 minutes and kick ass. But I also like to do our own Avantasia indoor tour because we can make it much more Avantasia oriented and play almost three hours...It will be huge.""


title: Avantasia

text: With two shows remaining at the end of the tour, Sammet held a press conference in which he announced that Avantasia would perform a headline performance at Wacken Open Air Festival in 2014. He also indicated that this would be a farewell performance as no further Avantasia activities were planned for the near future:


title: Avantasia

text: In a May 2014 interview regarding Edguy's then latest release "", Sammet said that "The Mystery of Time" hinted at a possible sequel. The new album, entitled "Ghostlights", was released on 29 January 2016 and featured guest performances by guitarists Bruce Kulick and Oliver Hartmann, while the guest vocalists were Jørn Lande, Michael Kiske, Dee Snider, Geoff Tate, Marko Hietala, Ronnie Atkins, Sharon den Adel, Bob Catley, Robert Mason and Herbie Langhans. Ghostlights scored the highest positions of any Avantasia release in several international music charts and even enabled Avantasia to enter the US Billboard charts for the second time.


title: Avantasia

text: The "biggest world tour so far" took place between March and August 2016. According to Avantasia's website it consisted of approximately 40 concerts in Europe, North America, South America, Canada, Japan, Russia and Scandinavia. With the exclusion of 8 headlining European summer festival performances, each concert lasted for over three hours. The ensemble was almost the same as on the previous tour with the addition of Jørn Lande and Herbie Langhans. As he did after announcing the 2014 Wacken performance, Sammet once again suggested that the Ghostlights World Tour might be the project's last activity in a long time:


title: Avantasia

text: After the completion of the tour, Avantasia headlined both Wacken Open Air and Barcelona Rockfest during the summer of 2017.


title: Avantasia

text: In March 2018, Sammet posted a picture on his Facebook announcing he had begun the creative process regarding the eighth Avantasia album.


title: Avantasia

text: On 10 October Nuclear Blast officially announced the new album "Moonglow" would be released on 15 February 2019, and would feature guest vocals by Jørn Lande, Geoff Tate, Ronnie Atkins, Hansi Kürsch, Bob Catley, Michael Kiske, Candice Night, Eric Martin and Mille Petrozza. Subsequently, the album was accompanied by the "Moonglow World Tour" "2019" consisting of 29 concerts across Europe, Australia, and the United States and South America taking place between March and June 2019.


title: Avantasia

text: In March 2020, Tobias posted that he is about to start working on a successor album to "Moonglow". The writing of the new album was in progress throughout 2020 and 2021. The album was released on 21 October 2022 under the title "A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society" and featured guest vocals by Floor Jansen, Jørn Lande, Michael Kiske, Ralf Scheepers, Bob Catley, Geoff Tate, Eric Martin and Ronnie Atkins.


title: Michael Symon

text: Michael D. Symon (born September 19, 1969) is an American chef, restaurateur, television personality, and author. He is of Greek, Sicilian, and Eastern European descent. He is seen regularly on Food Network on shows such as "Iron Chef America", "Burgers, Brew and 'Que, Food Feuds", and "The Best Thing I Ever Ate", as well as "Cook Like an Iron Chef" on the" "Cooking Channel and" The Chew" on ABC. He has also made numerous contributions to periodicals such as "Bon Appétit", "Esquire", "Food Arts", "Gourmet", "Saveur" and "O, The Oprah Magazine".


title: Michael Symon

text: A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Symon is the chef and owner of a number of restaurants in the Greater Cleveland area, including his flagship Lola, Mabel's BBQ and burger franchise BSpot. He is credited with helping to "save" the restaurant scene in Downtown Cleveland. He also owns Michael Symon's Roast (also known as Roast) in Detroit, Michigan. On May 6, 2017, he opened Angeline (named after his mother Angel) at the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Symon describes his cooking as "meat-centric."


title: Michael Symon

text: Symon was born in Cleveland, Ohio and is of Greek, Italian, and Eastern European ancestry. He was raised in North Olmsted, Ohio, attending St. Richard School in North Olmsted and St. Edward High School in Lakewood, graduating in 1987. He took a part-time job at Geppetto's Pizza and Ribs on Warren Rd. as a cook.


title: Michael Symon

text: Symon cooked in the Cleveland restaurant scene, working at Player's, a Mediterranean restaurant in Lakewood. In 1993, he moved to Piccolo Mondo as chef, developing a small yet devoted following. He subsequently moved to Caxton Cafe.


title: Michael Symon

text: In February 1997, Michael and his then-fiancée (now wife), Liz Shanahan, opened Lola in Cleveland's trendy Tremont neighborhood. It is named after his aunt. At the time, the neighborhood was just beginning to be rediscovered and develop into the hipster, "go to" neighborhood that it has become. Tremont food scene pioneers Gerry Groh and Lynda Khoury had opened and grown one of the first new restaurants, named Bohemia, in Tremont. After several years of success, the couple was ready to move on to other ventures and the couple sold the space to the Symons. Lola garnered rave reviews and was named one of America's Best Restaurants in "Gourmet" magazine in its October 2000 issue. In 2005, he converted Lola into Lolita, and reopened Lola in downtown Cleveland the next year.


title: Michael Symon

text: On April 15, 2006, Symon opened a third restaurant, Parea, which in Greek means "a group of friends" or "company," in New York City. The restaurant, which featured upscale Greek food and was located on East 20th Street near Park Avenue, was run by Jonathon Sawyer, who tutored under Symon at Lolita. It was located next door to Gramercy Tavern. Symon partnered with Telly Hatzigeorgiou, George Pantelidis, and Peter J. Pappas. Although "New York Times" food critic Frank Bruni gave the food a 2-stars rating (very good), he noted that the sound level reached "piercing heights." By many accounts, the food was good, as the restaurant was even listed on "100 Tastes to Try in '07" in "Food & Wine" magazine. It closed in 2007, and was acquired by Stavros Aktipis who renamed it Kellari's Parea.


title: Michael Symon

text: Symon opened Roast, a restaurant at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit, Michigan in autumn 2008. Roast was named the 2009 Restaurant of the Year by the "Detroit Free Press".


title: Michael Symon

text: He opened a restaurant on July 1, 2009 called Bar Symon in Avon Lake, Ohio featuring casual concepts on tavern food. Soon after, he opened a hamburger focused restaurant named BSpot in Woodmere, Ohio. The original Avon Lake Bar Symon closed on October 19, 2010. However, the concept still exists in airports.


title: Michael Symon

text: In October 2009, the Cleveland Cavaliers announced that Symon would contribute menu items to be prepared by foodservice firm Aramark at the Quicken Loans Arena. Two existing restaurants were renamed after Symon's bar-bistros, Bar Symon and BSpot, and some of his signature dishes were made available as suite catering offerings.


title: Michael Symon

text: On October 19, 2010, Symon announced that he would be closing the Avon Lake location of Bar Symon. He later announced two more BSpot locations, one in Strongsville (opened April 6, 2011) and another in Westlake (late 2011). Another BSpot opened at the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland in May 2012, and a BSpot stand opened on the club level at Cleveland Browns Stadium for the 2012 NFL season. The BSpot in the casino closed in 2017.


title: Michael Symon

text: On June 25, 2012, Symon opened another Bar Symon in Pittsburgh International Airport-Airmall in partnership with United Concessions Group and The Paradies Shops.


title: Michael Symon

text: On November 21, 2015, Symon opened Symon's Burger Joint in Austin, TX near The University of Texas. This was his first venture outside of the Midwest. It closed in June 2017.


title: Michael Symon

text: On January 10, 2016, a fire caused the closure of Lolita in Tremont, which was originally the site of Lola. On May 1, 2016, Symon claimed a restaurant named Sherla's Chicken & Oysters would open in the former Lolita spot. He posted a concept menu on Facebook. On March 14, 2017, a Symon representative said the restaurant was "currently in the design phase." A Facebook page for the restaurant was last updated on May 1, 2016, and has since been deleted. The URL sherlaschicken.com currently redirects to Symon's page. As late as May 15, 2019, Symon stated the project was in development: "We don't have an ETA, we're still plugging along," he said. "We got through everything with the building. We're hoping to start working on the building, hopefully within the next couple of weeks to a month. We're getting there." However, it was revealed 5 months later that the project would not be coming to fruition with no comment from Symon.


title: Michael Symon

text: On April 11, 2016, Symon opened Mabel's BBQ on East 4th Street adjacent to Lola. On June 11, 2016, Symon noted there would be only one location of Mabel's BBQ. On December 20, 2018, another Mabel's BBQ restaurant opened at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. On February 6, 2019, a speakeasy named Sara's opened inside of the Palms Casino Mabel's BBQ location.


title: Michael Symon

text: In the spring and summer of 2018, without warning, Symon closed all BSpot locations outside of Cleveland in the areas of Columbus, OH, Indianapolis, and Detroit.


title: Michael Symon

text: On November 20, 2020, it was announced that Symon's flagship restaurant Lola and 2 more locations of BSpot would close due to financial pressures of COVID-19, leaving his only Ohio restaurants to be Mabel's BBQ in the East 4th Street District and BSpot Eton in Woodmere.


title: Michael Symon

text: Symon often appears on behalf of Food Network. During the summer of 2009, he promoted the Food Network's video game "Cook Or Be Cooked" for Wii, which was released on November 3, 2009.


title: Michael Symon

text: Symon was one of the rotating hosts of Food Network's show "Melting Pot". He appeared on "Sara's Secrets" with Sara Moulton, "Ready, Set, Cook", and "FoodNation with Bobby Flay". In 2005, he appeared on "Iron Chef America", where he lost to Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto in Battle Asparagus.


title: Michael Symon

text: While competing in the reality competition TV series "The Next Iron Chef", he reported on his experiences for "Fortune", posted on CNN Money. On November 11, 2007, after a head-to-head match against John Besh, Symon was declared the winner of the entire competition. On November 18, 2007, Symon won his first battle on "Iron Chef America".


title: Michael Symon

text: On April 21, 2008, the Food Network announced that Symon would take over as host of "", the network's third most popular show. He hosted the show for ten episodes until host Robert Irvine was reinstated. Although it was not announced publicly, Symon knew it was a temporary gig "from the start."


title: Michael Symon

text: He appeared along with several other Food Network stars on "Dear Food Network: Thanksgiving Disasters", a program dealing with dinner mishaps which first aired November 17, 2008. He appeared in the very first episode of the network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate", which featured his restaurant Lolita.


title: Michael Symon

text: "Cook Like an Iron Chef", a Cooking Channel show starring Symon, debuted in July 2010. He described it as "a show for the people who've watched Food Network forever and are ready to learn something more advanced or more creative."


title: Michael Symon

text: The show "Food Feuds", which featured Symon, premiered October 10, 2010. He travels to various locales and performs a direct comparison competition between local food rivals.


title: Michael Symon

text: On February 14, 2011, Symon appeared in a skit on the late-night talk show "Conan", in which a young couple had won a "romantic" Valentine's Day dinner date on the set. Conan O'Brien announced that Symon would be presenting them with their dinner—which he did, in the form of a Taco Party Pack from Taco Bell.


title: Michael Symon

text: In September 2011, Symon began co-hosting "The Chew" on ABC networks, a daily talk show that is centered on food-related and lifestyle topics.


title: Michael Symon

text: On December 14, 2021, Symon became the new host of "Throwdown!" on Food Network which previously starred Bobby Flay.


title: Michael Symon

text: Symon was featured in fellow Clevelander Michael Ruhlman's 2001 book "The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection". The second part of the three-part book focuses on Symon's quest for culinary perfection.


title: Michael Symon

text: In 2009, Symon collaborated with Ruhlman to write his first cookbook "Michael Symon's Live to Cook: Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen". () The foreword is written by fellow Iron Chef Bobby Flay. It was published by Clarkson Potter and was released on November 3, 2009.


title: Michael Symon

text: On September 25, 2012, another cookbook was released named "The Chew: Food. Life. Fun." (), co-authored by Symon along with fellow Iron Chef Mario Batali, long-time Food Network producer Gordon Elliott, Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly, and Daphne Oz. Three weeks later, Symon and Cleveland food writer Douglas Trattner collaborated to release his second offering, "Michael Symon's Carnivore: 120 Recipes for Meat Lovers" ().


title: Michael Symon

text: Beginning in September 2012, the Chew crew began releasing seasonal e-book cookbooks with "The Chew: Fall Flavors: More than 20 Seasonal Recipes from The Chew Kitchen," published by Hyperion Books, which is a unit of ABC parent The Walt Disney Company. It was followed up with "The Chew: Winter Flavors" in December 2012, while "The Chew: Spring Flavors" and "The Chew: Summer Flavors" were both released on April 23, 2013.


title: Michael Symon

text: "The Chew: What's for Dinner" (), was released on September 24, 2013, by Hyperion Books, and is the second book based on the hot ABC television show. The cookbook features 100 easy recipes for every night of the week provided by Symon along with his co-hosts. In this cookbook, Symon provides quick and easy recipes for chicken marsala, angel hair caprese, and many others. He also shares tips on how to cook scallops restaurant-style.


title: Michael Symon

text: Onter cookbooks include "5 in 5: 5 Fresh Ingredients + 5 Minutes = 120 Fantastic Dinners" (2013), "5 in 5: 5 for Every Season" (2015), "Michael Symon's Playing with Fire" (2018), and "Fix It with Food" (2019). These were all co-authored by Douglas Trattner.


title: Michael Symon

text: In 2008, Symon began working as a "spokeschef," representing cookware companies Vitamix and Calphalon, appearing at housewares shows and other demonstration events.


title: Michael Symon

text: In 2011, Symon partnered with kitchenware company Weston Products on his official specialty kitchen product line, the Michael Symon Live to Cook Collection by Weston.


title: Michael Symon

text: In 2012, and again in 2013, Symon was paired with actress Eva Longoria for a promotion for PepsiCo's Lay's potato chip called "Do Us A Flavor." The promotion encourages consumers to submit new flavor ideas and fans vote for their favorite on Facebook. The person who creates the winning flavor is awarded $1 million or one percent of chip flavor's net sales.


title: Michael Symon

text: Symon is married to Liz Symon, who has also been a collaborator on his restaurants. Symon has an adult son named Kyle, who was two years old when Michael and Liz married.


title: Kim Ki-duk

text: Kim Ki-duk ( ; 20 December 196011 December 2020) was a South Korean film director and screenwriter, noted for his idiosyncratic art-house cinematic works. His films have received many distinctions in the festival circuit, rendering him one of the most important contemporary Asian film directors.


title: Kim Ki-duk

text: His major festival awards include the Golden Lion at 69th Venice International Film Festival for "Pietà", a Silver Lion for Best Director at 61st Venice International Film Festival for "3-Iron", a Silver bear for Best Director at 54th Berlin International Film Festival for "Samaritan Girl", and the Un Certain Regard prize at 2011 Cannes Film Festival for "Arirang". His most widely known feature is "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring" (2003), included in film critic Roger Ebert's Great Movies. Two of his films served as official submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film as South Korean entries. He gave scripts to several of his former assistant directors including Juhn Jai-hong ("Beautiful" and "Poongsan") and Jang Hoon ("Rough Cut").


title: Kim Ki-duk

text: Kim was born on 20 December 1960 in Ponghwa, North Kyŏngsang. In 1990, he went to Paris to study fine arts, but instead he spent two years working there on the streets as a portrait painter. He served for five years in the South Korean Marine Corps, becoming a non-commissioned officer.


title: Kim Ki-duk

text: After returning to South Korea, Kim began his career as a screenwriter and won first prize in a screenplay contest held by the Korean Film Council in 1995. In the following year, Kim made his debut as a director with a low budget movie titled "Crocodile" (1996). The film received sensational reviews from movie critics in South Korea. Ki-duk said that his international breakthrough occurred with "The Isle" at the Toronto International Film Festival. His 2000 film "Real Fiction" was entered into the 23rd Moscow International Film Festival.


title: Kim Ki-duk

text: In 2003, Ki-duk released Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring. The film was praised by numerous critics, including critic Peter Bradshaw, who considered the film to be his masterpiece and one of the great works of modern Korean cinema. "A potent and enigmatic parable which manages to be both serene and gripping at the same time [...] It is that rarest of things - a genuinely spiritual film." The film work is included in critic Roger Ebert's Great Movies.


title: Kim Ki-duk

text: In 2004, he received Best Director awards at two different film festivals, for two different films. At the Berlin International Film Festival, he was awarded for "Samaritan Girl" (2004), and at the Venice Film Festival he won for "3-Iron" (also 2004). In 2011, his documentary film "Arirang" received an award for best film in the Un Certain Regard category from the Cannes Film Festival. In 2012, his film "Pietà" received the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. In 2015, it was announced in Beijing at the Asian Brilliant Stars, a section of the upcoming Berlin International Film Festival that Kim would direct his largest budget to date film "Who Is God?," produced by Hollywood producers Stephen Castor and Jim Rygiel (three-time Academy Award winner) under the banner of their production company Its Just Us Productions, along with Chinese production company Film Carnival (Hangzhou). The film was financed by CITIC Guoan, Huafeng Investment Consultation and Its Just Us Productions, (China Daily News).


title: Kim Ki-duk

text: In August 2017 an actress referred to as "Actress "A" by prosecutors filed a complaint against Kim Ki-duk through Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office. In the complaint actress accused Kim of slapping her face and forcing her to do an unscripted sex scene on the set of his film "Moebius". In December 2017 Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office fined Kim Ki-duk for $4,450 (KRW 5 million) for physical assault but didn't charge him otherwise citing lack of physical evidence.


title: Kim Ki-duk

text: On March 6, 2018 the South Korean TV channel MBC's investigative report show "PD Notebook" aired an episode titled "Movie director Kim Ki-duk, Master's Naked Face" with more accusations from Actress A and two others (Actress B and C as they mentioned in the show). Actresses accused Kim and his frequent collaborator, actor Cho Jae-hyun of verbal and physical sexual harassment and rape.


title: Kim Ki-duk

text: After that on August 7, 2018 MBC aired a second episode of the "PD Notebook" show "Master's Naked Face. Aftermath" with more accusations from other actresses and staff members against Kim and Cho. In that episode journalists interviewed a Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Special Investigation Unit on Sexual Violence official about the cases. The official explained that the police approached the survivors and established the facts behind accusations but could not indict actor Cho and director Kim because of expired statute of limitation.


title: Kim Ki-duk

text: In January 2019 Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office decided to drop the criminal lawsuits filed by Kim Ki-duk against actresses and "PD Notebook" because "there was neither proof that actress' initial accusation was false, nor was there evidence that the news show had been programmed with the purpose of defamation".


title: Kim Ki-duk

text: In March 2019 Kim Ki-duk filed another lawsuit in civil court against Actress A and "PD Notebook" seeking $885,740 (KRW 1 billion) in damages. The lawsuit was ruled by court in defendants' favor on October 28, 2020. The court also ordered Kim to pay legal fees for the defendants.


title: Kim Ki-duk

text: The British Board of Film Classification delayed the release of Kim Ki-duk's "The Isle" (2000) in the United Kingdom because of instances of animal cruelty in the film. Concerning scenes in which a frog is skinned after being beaten to death and fish are mutilated, the director stated, "We cooked all the fish we used in the film and ate them, expressing our appreciation. I've done a lot of cruelty on animals in my films. And I will have a guilty conscience for the rest of my life."


title: Kim Ki-duk

text: To a U.S. interviewer who suggested that scenes such as these are "very disturbing and [seem] to place an obstacle to the films reception, or... distribution, to other countries", Kim said, "Yes, I did worry about that fact. But the way I see it, the food that we eat today is no different. In America you eat beef, pork, and kill all these animals. And the people who eat these animals are not concerned with their slaughter. Animals are part of this cycle of consumption. It looks more cruel onscreen, but I don't see the difference. And yes, there's a cultural difference, and maybe Americans will have a problem with it - but if they can just be more sensitive to what is acceptable in different countries I'd hope they wouldn't have too many issues with what's shown on-screen."


title: Kim Ki-duk

text: On 11 December 2020, Kim died from complications caused by COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Latvia at the age of 59, nine days before his 60th birthday.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: The Walt Disney Company, one of the largest media corporations in the world, has been the subject of a wide variety of criticisms of its business practices, executives, and content. Walt Disney Studios has been criticized for including stereotypical portrayal of non-white characters, sexism, and alleged plagiarism. Some of Disney's various business ventures, which include television networks, theme parks, and product lines, have also sparked controversy amongst groups of consumers and media outlets.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: In 1977, Roy E. Disney, the son of Disney co-founder Roy O. Disney and nephew of Walt Disney, resigned as an executive due to disagreements with his colleagues' decisions at the time. As he claimed later, "I just felt creatively the company was not going anywhere interesting. It was very stifling." However, he retained a seat on the board of directors. His resignation from the board in 1984, which occurred in the midst of a corporate takeover battle, was the beginning of a series of developments that led to the replacement of company president and CEO Ronald William Miller (married to Walt's daughter Diane Marie Disney) by Michael Eisner, Frank Wells, & Jeffrey Katzenberg. Roy soon returned to the company as vice-chairman of the board of directors and head of the animation department.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Michael Eisner has been criticized for his management style. The book "DisneyWar" by James B. Stewart is an exposé of Eisner's 20-year tenure as chairman and CEO at The Walt Disney Company. Stewart describes some of the following:


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: In 2003, Roy resigned from his positions as Disney vice chairman and chairman of Walt Disney Feature Animation, accusing Eisner of micromanagement, flops with the ABC television network, timidity in the theme park business, turning The Walt Disney Company into a "rapacious, soul-less" company, and refusing to establish a clear succession plan, as well as a string of box-office movie flops starting in the year 2000.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: On March 3, 2004, at Disney's annual shareholders' meeting, a surprising 43% of Disney's shareholders, predominantly rallied by former board members Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, withheld their proxies to re-elect Eisner to the board. Disney's board then gave the chairmanship position to George J. Mitchell. However, the board did not immediately remove Eisner as chief executive.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: On March 13, 2005, Eisner announced that he would step down as CEO one year before his contract expired. On September 30, Eisner resigned both as an executive and as a member of the board of directors, and, severing all formal ties with the company, he waived his contractual rights to perks such as the use of a corporate jet and an office at the company's Burbank headquarters. Eisner's replacement was his longtime assistant, Robert Iger.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Over the years many scholars, film critics, and parent groups have been critical of Disney for the stereotypical portrayal of non-white characters. Examples cited included the short "Mickey's Mellerdrammer" where Mickey Mouse dresses in blackface; the stereotypical "Black" Bird in the short "Who Killed Cock Robin?"; Sunflower the half-zebra/half-African servant centaurette in "Fantasia"; the film "Song of the South", which depicts an idealized version of the lives of former slaves; the depiction of Native American 'Indians' as savages in "Peter Pan"; the cunning and manipulative Siamese cats Si and Am in "Lady and the Tramp"; and the jive talking crows in "Dumbo" (however in the latter instance some critics have defended the crows as being one of the few characters in the film sympathetic to Dumbo's plight since being a marginalized group they understand what it's like to be ostracized themselves).


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Some people have used these stereotypes to accuse Walt Disney of being racist. During a story meeting on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", he referred to the scene when the dwarfs pile on top of each other as a "["N-word"] pile" and during casting of "Song of the South" he used the term "pickaninny". However, Disney biography Gabler argues that "Walt Disney was no racist. He never, either publicly or privately, made disparaging remarks about blacks or asserted white superiority. Like most white Americans of his generation, however, he was racially insensitive." The feature film "Song of the South" was criticized by contemporary film critics, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and others for its perpetuation of black stereotypes, but Disney became close friends with its star, James Baskett, describing him as "the best actor, I believe, to be discovered in years." Disney later campaigned successfully for Baskett to receive an Honorary Academy Award for his performance, the first black male actor so honored. Baskett died shortly afterward, and his widow wrote Disney a letter of gratitude for his support. Floyd Norman, the studio's first black animator who worked closely with Disney during the 1950s and 1960s, said, "Not once did I observe a hint of the racist behavior Walt Disney was often accused of after his death. His treatment of peopleand by this I mean all peoplecan only be called exemplary."


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Since its release in 1992, Disney's "Aladdin" has been accused of perpetuating racial and ethnic stereotypes of Arabs. In July 1993, Disney announced that it would alter a line in the film's opening song, "Arabian Nights", written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. In the original film, the song featured the lyrics, "Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face/It's barbaric, but hey, it's home." After Arab-American groups complained that the line was derogatory to Middle Easterners, Disney amended the lyrics in later editions of the film to an alternate lyric written by Ashman: "Where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense/It's barbaric, but hey, it's home." Menken approved the change before its adoption, as did the estate of Ashman, who had died before the film's completion. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee further requested that the word "barbaric" be removed; however, Disney refused this, claiming that the word appeared in all versions of Ashman's text and it referred to the film's desert setting in the altered lyrics. Don Bustany, president of the ADC's Los Angeles chapter, argued that the existing alterations were "nowhere near adequate, considering the racism depicted in "Aladdin" ... there still remains the very sleazy, burlesque character in the prologue and the scene where a merchant is going to cut off the hand of Princess Jasmine because she took an apple from his stand to give to a hungry child." A March 1995 article published on the ADC's website further criticized "Aladdin" for depicting the film's protagonists, Aladdin and Jasmine, with light skin and Anglicized features in contrast to dark-skinned merchants and palace guards who were cruel, greedy, and vicious while featuring Arab accents and distorted facial features. Shortly after the film's release, Jack Shaheen, a professor of mass communications at Southern Illinois University, said that ""Aladdin" is not an entertaining "Arabian Nights" fantasy as film critics would have us believe, but rather a painful reminder to 3 million Americans of Arab heritage, as well as 300 million Arabs and others, that the abhorrent Arab stereotype is as ubiquitous as Aladdin's lamp."


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: In 1938, The Walt Disney Company sent a rejection letter to Mary Ford, stating that "girls are not considered" for creative positions. The letter was rediscovered in 2009 when Ford's grandson uploaded the image on Flickr. The letter received greater attention on January 7, 2014, when, after congratulating Emma Thompson for her Best Actress win at the National Board of Review Awards, Meryl Streep referenced the letter. Referencing Thompson's film, "Saving Mr. Banks", Streep responded "It must have killed [Disney] to encounter a woman, an equally disdainful and superior creature, a person dismissive of his own considerable gifts and prodigious output and imagination."


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: In response to Streep's statements, many Disney scholars and artists defended Disney, including Disney Legend Floyd Norman, who said "Much has changed, and changed for the better." Other journalists found the speech ironic, noting that Streep just finished filming the then-upcoming Disney film, "Into the Woods".


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: The Walt Disney Company has also been criticized for the lack of feminist values seen in the older, original Disney Princesses. Snow White in particular is under constant criticism for her lack of feminist ideals. The film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) features a main protagonist who, at the time, fit the domestic and docile expectations of women in the pre-World War II era. Snow White is displayed on screen covered in a long dress, embellished with a white collar, puffy sleeves, red cape, and a red bow constraining her hair; a traditional, modest feminine look that reveals minimal skin. Through her actions portrayed in the movie, she draws on the traditional femininity that was encouraged in 1930s American culture. In the midst of the Great Depression, women were encouraged to return to the home and care for the household, a theme that is widely displayed in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs".


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: However, with the second resurgence of Disney movies (known as the Disney Renaissance) beginning in 1989 and ending in 1999, Disney transformed the damsel in distress into a strong woman with a desire for adventure. This new approach ushered in a decade of go-getting, proactive heroines who possessed character traits that coincided with the new era of acceptable roles in a society where women hold the same jobs as men. This is evident in princesses such as Ariel from "The Little Mermaid" (1989), and Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" (1991).


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Several of Disney's animated feature films have been accused of plagiarizing existing works. The most notable and controversial example is "The Lion King", which critics allege was plagiarized from Osamu Tezuka's Japanese manga ジャングル大帝 "Janguru Taitei" i.e. "Jungle Emperor" "" and its anime adaptation of the same name (in Japan). This TV series was in turn dubbed and retitled "Kimba the White Lion" for English-speaking audiences by Titan Productions for NBC from 1965 to 1966, and it premiered on Los Angeles' KHJ-TV in September 1966. After "Kimba's" original run in the United States ended in the autumn of 1967, the series was shown in syndication on TV stations across the U.S. through September 30, 1978.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: As a number of media journalists and fans watched "The Lion King" after its initial release in 1994, they noticed characters and events in the story resembling those of "Kimba". Although the two works follow different screenplays, there are strong artistic similarities, and "The Lion King" contains numerous sequences that closely match up with "Kimba". Other similarities are thematically deeper and more pronounced, such as that both feature the theme of the circle of life. Alleged similarities in the characters, beginning with the protagonist lion cubs "Kimba" and "Simba", include the evil lions, the one-eyed Claw and Scar, the sage baboons Dan'l Baboon and Rafiki, the animated birds Pauley Cracker and Zazu, and the pair of hyena sidekicks (it was a trio in the Disney film).


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: "The Lion King" co-director Rob Minkoff deflected criticism of similarities in the characters by stating it was "not unusual to have characters like a baboon, a bird or hyenas" in films set in Africa. Both films feature the protagonist looking up at cloudbursts in the shape of his father lion, as pointed out by Frederick L. Schodt. The similarity is alluded to in a scene from "The Simpsons" episode 'Round Springfield", where a parody of Mufasa (voiced by Harry Shearer) in the clouds tells Lisa Simpson, "You must avenge my death, Kimba ... dah, I mean Simba!".


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Matthew Broderick has said that when he was hired as the voice of adult Simba in "The Lion King", he presumed the project was related to "Kimba the White Lion". "I thought he meant Kimba, who was a white lion in a cartoon when I was a little kid", said Broderick. "So I kept telling everybody I was going to play Kimba. I didn't really know anything about it, but I didn't really care." In addition, a memo written by Roy E. Disney in July 1993 refers to Simba as "Kimba", causing critics to claim that Disney was aware of the similarities.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Upon the release of "The Lion King" in Japan, multiple Japanese cartoonists including Machiko Satonaka signed a letter urging the Walt Disney Company acknowledge due credit to "Jungle Emperor Leo" in the making of "The Lion King". As Tim Hornyak wrote in "The Japan Times", "The Tezuka–Disney connection extends back decades before the movie. Tezuka met Walt Disney at the 1964 New York World's Fair, and Disney said he hoped to "make something just like" Tezuka's "Astro Boy"."The Lion King" director Roger Allers claimed he remained unfamiliar with "Kimba" throughout production until his movie was nearly completed; co-director Rob Minkoff also said he was unfamiliar with "Kimba".


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: The other Disney film, "" (2001), was alleged for plagiarizing the Japanese animated series as well; many critics and viewers alike claimed it was plagiarized from one of the popular anime television shows ふしぎの海のナディア "Fushigi no Umi no Nadia" i.e. "Nadia of the Mysterious Seas" ("") "", more specifically in its character designs, setting and storyline. As noted by the viewers in Japan and America, the similarities became strong enough to call its production company Gainax to sue for plagiarism. They only refrained from doing so, according to Gainax member Yasuhiro Takeda, because the decision belonged to parent companies NHK and Toho. Hiroyuki Yamaga, another Gainax worker, was quoted in an interview in 2000 as: "We actually tried to get NHK to pick a fight with Disney, but even the National Television Network of Japan didn't dare to mess with Disney and their lawyers. ... We actually did say that but we wouldn't actually take them to court. We would be so terrified about what they would do to them in return that we wouldn't dare."


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Although Disney never responded formally to those claims, co-director Kirk Wise posted on a Disney animation newsgroup in May 2001, "Never heard of "Nadia" till it was mentioned in this [newsgroup]. Long after we'd finished production, I might add." He claimed both "Atlantis" and "Nadia" were inspired, in part, by Jules Verne's 1870 novel "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas". Speaking about the clarification, however, Lee Zion of "Anime News Network" wrote, "There are too many similarities "not" connected with "20,000 Leagues" for the whole thing to be coincidence." As such, the whole affair ultimately entered popular culture as a convincing case of plagiarism. In 2018, Reuben Baron of "Comic Book Resources" added to Zion's comment stating, "Verne didn't specifically imagine magic crystal-based technology, something featured in both the Disney movie and the two similar anime. The Verne inspiration also doesn't explain the designs being suspiciously similar to "Nadia"."


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: In March 2014, animator Kelly Wilson sued Disney for plagiarism, alleging that the teaser trailer for "Frozen" was similar to her short film "The Snowman". After four months of legal battling, federal judge Vince Chhabria ruled in Wilson's favor, citing evidence that Disney was aware of "The Snowman" and "the sequence of both works, from start to finish, is too parallel to conclude that no reasonable juror could find the works substantially similar." In April 2015, Chhabria explained that several Pixar employees had attended the 2011 San Francisco International Film Festival, in which "The Snowman" was screened four times alongside the Pixar short "Play by Play". In June 2015, "Entertainment Weekly" reported that Disney had agreed to settle the case.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: In March 2017, a year after the release of Disney's animated film "Zootopia", screenwriter and producer Gary Goldman sued Disney, claiming that he had pitched a similar idea to the studio in 2000 and again in 2009. According to a story in "The Hollywood Reporter", Goldman alleged that Disney had stolen the film's title and various artwork from him after he offered the project. A Disney spokesperson dismissed the accusations, declaring that "Mr. Goldman's lawsuit is riddled with patently false allegations. It is an unprincipled attempt to lay claim to a successful film he didn't create, and we will vigorously defend against it in court."


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Disney has been criticized for limiting and stereotyping LGBT representation in its media, with LGBT topics previously being deemed not "family-friendly" to address directly by Disney while villains were often portrayed as queer-coded through gender non-conformance.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Controversy was stirred in the live-action remake "Beauty and the Beast" (2017), when director Bill Condon announced that Lefou would come out as a gay character and dance with a man named Stanley. As a result, a theater in Henagar, Alabama refused to screen the film.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: In March 2020, the Pixar animated film "Onward" introduced the first openly lesbian character in Disney media named Officer Specter, voiced by the real-life lesbian actress Lena Waithe, who discusses that her girlfriend's daughter gets her pulling her hair out. This resulted to the film receiving backlash in several Middle Eastern countries such as Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The film is also censored in Russia, where the gay propaganda law officially criminalizes the dissemination of LGBT-related content to children under 18.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Pixar and Disney had disagreements after the production of "Toy Story 2". Originally intended as a straight-to-video release (and thus not part of Pixar's five-picture deal), the film was eventually upgraded to a theatrical release during production. Pixar demanded that the film then be counted toward the five-picture agreement, but Disney refused. Pixar's first five feature films had collectively grossed more than $2.5 billion, equivalent to the highest per-film average gross in the industry. Though profitable for both, Pixar later complained that the arrangement was not equitable. Pixar was responsible for creation and production, while Disney handled marketing and distribution. Profits and production costs were split 50-50, but Disney exclusively owned all story and sequel rights and also collected a distribution fee. The lack of story and sequel rights was perhaps the most onerous aspect to Pixar and set the stage for a contentious relationship.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: The two companies attempted to reach a new agreement in early 2004. The new deal would be only for distribution, as Pixar intended to control production and own the resulting film properties themselves. The company also wanted to finance their films on their own and collect 100 percent of the profits, paying Disney only the 10 to 15 percent distribution fee. More importantly, as part of any distribution agreement with Disney, Pixar demanded control over films already in production under their old agreement, including "The Incredibles" and "Cars". Disney considered these conditions unacceptable, but Pixar would not concede.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Disagreements between Steve Jobs and then-Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner made the negotiations more difficult than they otherwise might have been. They broke down completely in mid-2004, with Jobs declaring that Pixar was actively seeking partners other than Disney. Pixar did not enter negotiations with other distributors. After a lengthy hiatus, negotiations between the two companies resumed following the departure of Eisner from Disney in September 2005. In preparation for potential fallout between Pixar and Disney, Jobs announced in late 2004 that Pixar would no longer release movies at the Disney-dictated November time frame, but during the more lucrative early summer months. This would also allow Pixar to release DVDs during the Christmas shopping season. An added benefit of delaying "Cars" was to extend the time frame remaining on the Pixar-Disney contract to see how things would play out between the two companies.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Pending the Disney acquisition of Pixar in 2006, the two companies created a distribution deal for the intended 2007 release of "Ratatouille", in case the acquisition fell through, to ensure that this one film would still be released through Disney's distribution channels (in contrast to the earlier Pixar deal, "Ratatouille" was to remain a Pixar property and Disney would have received only a distribution fee). The completion of Disney's Pixar acquisition, however, nullified this distribution arrangement.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Formerly a subsidiary of Disney from 1993 to 2010, Miramax has come under criticism for its editing, dubbing, and replacing the soundtracks of various foreign films that it releases. One notable example is "Iron Monkey" which, though released subtitled, had its subtitles altered to remove the political context of the story; had scenes trimmed and changed for violence and pacing; and had the soundtrack changed, removing the famous Wong Fei Hung theme. Other films that they have altered in this way include "Shaolin Soccer;" "Farewell My Concubine" (theatrical release); "The Thief and the Cobbler;" and Jet Li's "Fist of Legend".


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Peter Biskind's book "Down and Dirty Pictures" details many of the Weinsteins' dishonest dealings with filmmakers.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Under the Weinsteins, Miramax had a history of buying the rights to Asian films, only to sit on them without releasing them for years. One example of this is "Hero", a 2002 Chinese martial arts film. It languished in Miramax's vaults for two years before it was salvaged with the intervention of Quentin Tarantino. Another example is "Tears of the Black Tiger", a Thai film originally released in 2000. After changing the film's ending, "Tears of the Black Tiger" sat in Miramax's vaults for five years until its rights were purchased by Magnolia Pictures in 2006.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: A "no cuts" policy was highlighted when Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein demanded edits to the Japanese anime film "Princess Mononoke" to make it more marketable. In response, Toshio Suzuki, a producer at Studio Ghibli, sent an authentic katana with a simple message: "No cuts". According to promotion manager Steve Alpert, when Weinstein initially found out about this, he flew into a rage, threatening Alpert that he would "never work in this ... industry again". He eventually gave in, however, and the film was released uncut.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: One reason for the delays and non-releases of films was an accounting scheme that the Weinsteins used to shift potential money-losing films to future fiscal years and ensure they would receive annual bonuses from Disney, while trying to bar retailers from legally exporting authentic DVDs of the films.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Defenders of the company point out that, prior to Miramax, most of the films purchased by the company would have had little to no chance of achieving U.S. distribution other than by very small distributors with minimal marketing expertise and funds. They also state that the purpose of the company's aggressive re-editing technique was always to try to help the films find a broader American audience than they might otherwise find. "I'm not cutting for fun", Harvey Weinstein said in an interview, "I'm cutting for the shit to work. All my life I served one master: the film. I love movies."


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Miramax is also accused of ignoring their more artistic, less audience-friendly films, especially when directors refuse to re-cut them to make them less challenging. "Dead Man", which director Jim Jarmusch refused to re-cut, got a very limited release and critics have accused the Weinsteins of burying the film.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Miramax was parodied in the Kevin Smith film "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" (2001), in which the studio attempted to adapt Jay and Silent Bob's comic book characters, Bluntman and Chronic, into a movie, thus resulting in the duo traveling to Hollywood to stop them from making the movie. According to Kevin Smith, this film is a direct response to the controversy surrounding his previous film "Dogma".


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: On February 9, 1996, The Walt Disney Company acquired Capital Cities/ABC, and renamed the broadcasting group ABC, Inc., although the network also continues to use American Broadcasting Companies, such as on TV productions it owns.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: ABC's relationship with Disney dates back to 1953 when Leonard Goldenson pledged enough money so that the "Disneyland" theme park could be completed. ABC continued to hold Disney notes and stock until 1960, and also had first call on the "Disneyland" television series in 1954.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: With this new relationship came an attempt at cross-promotion, with attractions based on ABC, shows at Disney parks and an annual soap festival at Walt Disney World (the former president of ABC, Inc., Robert Iger, now heads Disney). In 1997, ABC aired a Saturday morning block called One Saturday Morning, which changed to ABC Kids in 2002. It featured a five-hour line-up of children's shows (mostly cartoons) for children ages 5–12, but it was changed to a four-hour line-up in 2005. Since then, it was aimed for children more in the 10–16 age range.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Despite intense micro-managing on the part of Disney management, the flagship television network was slow to turn around. In 1999, the network was able to experience a brief bolster in ratings with the hit game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire". A new national phenomenon, "Survivor", on CBS persuaded the schedulers at ABC to change "Millionaire" slot over to the Wednesday time slot at 8:00 to kill "Survivor" before it got ratings to hold. The first results were promising for CBS; they lost by only a few rating points. ABC tried to keep the strength running, so they tried an unprecedented strategy for "Millionaire" by airing the show four times a week during the next fall season, in the process overexposing the show, as it appeared on the network sometimes five or six nights during a week.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: ABC's ratings fell dramatically as competitors introduced their own game shows and the public grew tired of the format. Alex Wallau took over as president in 2000. Despite the repeated overexposure of "Millionaire" and its switch to syndication, ABC continued to find some success in dramas such as "The Practice" (which gave birth to a successful spinoff, "Boston Legal", in 2004); "Alias;" and "Once and Again". ABC also had some moderately successful comedies including "The Drew Carey Show;" "Spin City;" "Dharma & Greg;" "According to Jim;" "My Wife and Kids;" and "George Lopez".


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Still, one asset that ABC lacked in the early 2000s that most other networks had was popularity in reality television. ABC's briefly-lived reality shows "Are You Hot?" and "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!" proved to be an embarrassment for the network. By the end of the 2003–2004 television season, ABC slumped to fourth place, becoming the first of the original "Big Three" networks to fall into such ratings.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: "The strike-termination agreement does not allow the retention of replacement writers in lieu of allowing striking writers to return to their jobs. "ABC Daytime" are clearly violating this agreement", said Ira Cure, senior counsel for the WGA East, in a statement. "They have left us no other option but to file arbitrations to ensure that our members will be afforded their rights outlined under this agreement." Broadcasting & Cable: Arbitration Suit Against ABC-D


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: In August 2009, Frons announced that the production of "All My Children" would move from New York City to Los Angeles by the end of the year.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: On April 30, 2004, "Nightline" host Ted Koppel read the names of the members of the United States Armed Forces who were killed in Iraq. This prompted controversy from conservatives, who believed that Koppel was making a political statement, and from Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which felt that ABC was undermining the Iraq war effort. Others, including a "The Washington Post" television columnist, thought it was a ratings stunt for sweeps, and indeed "Nightline" was the highest-rated program during that time period, and had about 30% more viewers than other "Nightline" programs that week. Sinclair stations did not air the program.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Koppel repeated the format on May 28, 2004, reading the names of service members killed in Afghanistan, and on May 30, 2005, reading the names of all service members killed in Afghanistan or Iraq between the last program and the preparation of the program. This time, Sinclair stations aired the program as scheduled.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: In the wake of the job cuts, a significant controversy erupted online in May 2010 after it was announced the former VP of news coverage, Mimi Gurbst, was leaving the network to become a guidance counselor. A story in the "New York Observer" reported that Gurbst was a "cherished" mentor inside the news division. Reporters who closely follow TV news observed that a large number of current and former ABC News staffers went online to vigorously respond that Gurbst had helped perpetuate a negative culture with ABC News.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: ABC aired the controversial two-part miniseries "The Path to 9/11" in the US on September 10, 2006, at 8 p.m. EDT and September 11, 2006, at 8 p.m. EDT. The extensive pre-broadcast controversy over the film has included disputes over the accuracy of its dramatization of key events, as well as calls by historians and from former Clinton and Bush administration officials for ABC to re-edit part of the film or to not broadcast it at all. According to the official statement released by ABC on September 7, 2006, the film is a dramatization, not a documentary, drawn from a variety of sources, including The 9/11 Commission Report, other published materials, and personal interviews.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: The main source of the controversy stems from portions of the film concerned with the Clinton administration in the 1990s. Critics say that certain dramatized scenes tend to suggest that blame for the events that took place on September 11, 2001, lies with Clinton and his cabinet. One example cited is a scene in which then-National Security Advisor Sandy Berger does not approve of the order to take out a surrounded Osama bin Laden, tells the squad in Afghanistan that they will have to do the job without official authorization and then hangs up the phone. According to Sandy Berger and others – including conservative author and Clinton critic Richard Miniter – this never happened. Screenwriter Cyrus Nowrasteh has now admitted that the abrupt hang-up was not in the script and was improvised.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: American Airlines reportedly threatened to pull its advertising from ABC after this program aired. The liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America named ABC its third annual "Misinformer of the Year" award in 2006, not only for the miniseries, but for the alleged conservative pandering of ABC News director Mark Halperin and for biased claims on news programs such as "ABC World News" and "Good Morning America".


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Alexis Debat, a consultant for ABC for years and also a writer for "The National Interest", resigned from ABC in June 2007 after the broadcasting company discovered that he did not have a Ph.D. from the Sorbonne as he pretended. Furthermore, in September 2007, the French news media "Rue 89" revealed that he had made at least two bogus interviews, one of Barack Obama and another of Alan Greenspan, both published in the French magazine "Politique internationale". This in turn also led to his resignation from "The National Interest". Debat had specialized in reports on terrorism and national security for the past six years (writing, for example, on the Jundallah Balochi and Sunni organization).


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: On March 2, 2010, WABC-TV in New York, along with Philadelphia sister station WPVI (carried in Mercer, Monmouth, and Ocean counties), stated that they would pull their programming from Cablevision on March 7, 2010 (at midnight), unless a new payment structure was implemented for its network programming. Cablevision responded by citing WABC-TV and WPVI's free, over-the-air accessibility. Cablevision spokesman Charles Schueler stated, "It is not fair for ABC-Disney to hold Cablevision customers hostage by forcing them to pay what amounts to a new TV tax."


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: The removal of both stations occurred on the weekend of the 82nd Academy Awards, which was scheduled to be one of ABC's largest yearly specials, and was projected to cause a devastating blow to advertisers for the Oscars and to Cablevision itself.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: On Sunday, March 7, 2010, at 12:01 a.m. ET, both WABC and WPVI were removed from Cablevision, leaving a black screen in their place, confirming the rumors that if a deal with Cablevision and ABC was not reached by midnight, the network and other Disney-owned channels would go off the air.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Cablevision began looping a public service announcement on each affected channel and forcing all of its customers' set-top boxes to channel 1999, which was looping the same announcement, much like was done when Scripps Networks pulled their cable channels' programming. Besides providing certain details of the disagreement they stated that ABC shows could be watched online through TV websites such as Hulu.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Also that day, Cablevision announced through e-mail that their entire film catalog of on-demand movies would be available without charge until midnight that evening as an apology to their customers.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: At 8:50 p.m. that day, WABC and WPVI returned to Cablevision's programming, after notification during the 82nd Academy Awards announced progression in "Work to complete our negotiations", and the return of ABC's programming during the negotiations.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Fox Family Worldwide Inc. was sold from News Corporation’s Fox Entertainment Group to Disney for $2.9 billion on October 24, 2001. The sale to Disney also included TV channel Fox Kids and Saban Entertainment (renamed BVS Entertainment (now Hasbro)). The entire network was officially renamed ABC Family on November 10, 2001.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: The sale to Disney was considered one of the largest mistakes or problems occurring during the tenure of Michael Eisner. The failure was primarily due to the acquisition being done by the strategic planning department of Disney, without consulting anyone at ABC. The original plan was to use the channel to essentially show re-runs of ABC programming, but this plan was completely impossible since ABC had no syndication rights to the majority of their own programs. During this time, the network did air same-season repeats of "Alias", "Less Than Perfect", "Life with Bonnie", and "The Bachelor", almost all of which were Touchstone Television productions ("The Bachelor" is distributed by Time Warner's Telepictures). But in trying to change the focus of the channel, Disney also canceled several Fox Family series, like "State of Grace", and cut back on the network's TV movies, which were among the few programs Fox Family was doing well with. The ratings tumbled further as the network became dependent on syndicated reruns and no original programs (save for original wrap-around segments around "Bachelor" repeats, and children's programming).


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: The next major plan was to reposition the channel to market it to college students, young women, or to a more hip audience under the name XYZ, a reverse reference to ABC. Disney soon found that the channel could never be renamed as such. The original sale from CBN to Fox/Saban contained a (now disputed) stipulation that the channel contains the word "Family" in the name forever, no matter who owns the network. To create XYZ, the Family Channel would have had to cease to exist – terminating all existing cable TV contracts – and XYZ would have to be created as a completely new network. Cable companies would not be obligated to put XYZ in the spot vacated by the Family Channel. ABC scrapped the idea after discovering this clause.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: The name was revisited at one point in 2003, serving as a program block entitled "The XYZ", showing programs and movies aimed at the above groups. The network was also used as a buffer to burn off failed ABC series, such as "All American Girl", which featured former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Since 2006, the critics have gone after programming on ABC Family. Most critics of the network feel it has gone from a family friendly to "too risqué", and shows like "Greek" and "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" are far too racy for "family viewers". Critics feel that the executives at ABC Family are only after viewership numbers and are unconcerned about showing younger generations in questionable scenarios in series and films. The main focus of criticism is on teenage pregnancy or underage drinking.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Despite the channel's name including the word "Family", the channel's programming content standards had changed several years earlier after the sale of the channel by International Family Entertainment, and the channel had been airing even some acquired series and movies that contain profanity, violence and sexual content or dialogue after the sale, particularly since being purchased by The Walt Disney Company. ABC Family did air parental advisory tags at the beginning of some TV-14 rated programs, such as "That '70s Show" and some episodes of "The Secret Life of the American Teenager".


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: In 2015, a survey revealed that viewers who only watched the channel occasionally thought that the channel was entirely family-friendly. As a result, the channel was rebranded as Freeform on January 12, 2016. This change was made in order to establish the network as a general entertainment channel. Despite this, family-oriented shows and movies continue to air on the network.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: The enterprise was originally established by 21st Century Fox and the National Geographic Society. Following the completion of Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox on March 20, 2019, Disney assumed 21CF's 73% share in the joint venture.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Disney Channel has come under heavy criticism in some time. Some critics disapprove of the marketing strategy made by Anne Sweeney, the former president of the Disney-ABC Television Group from 2004 to 2014 (1996–2014 as the president of Disney Channel), in which Disney Channel's programming has geared mainly towards preteen and teenage girls with a decrease in animated programming. Criticism was also aimed at removing almost all Walt-era and pre-1990s material from the channel in 2002 with the removal of the late-night "Vault Disney" block devoted to this material, which used to make up the majority of the channel's programming since its inception in 1983. In 2008, Sweeney had explained that Disney Channel, resulting from its multi-platform marketing strategy using television and music, would become "the major profit driver for the [Walt Disney] Company."


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: The channel has also pulled (and sometimes re-shot) episodes that have featured subject matter deemed inappropriate due to its humor and timing of real-life events for Disney Channel's target audience. In November 2008, "No Sugar, Sugar" ("Hannah Montana") was pulled before its broadcast after complaints from parents of misconceptions regarding diabetics and sugar intake (Mitchel Musso's character, Oliver Oken, reveals to have Type 1 diabetes).


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: In December 2011, Disney Channel pulled episodes of two of its original series. When Demi Lovato (recently treated for bulimia nervosa in 2010) on Twitter objected to the de-emphasis on eating disorders. Episodes such as "Party It Up" ("Shake It Up") and "Colbie Caillat" ("So Random!") were pulled. On May 17, 2013, the channel pulled "Quitting Cold Koala" (a "Jessie") due to parental concerns over a scene in which a character's gluten-free diet leads to ridicule.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: Criticism of ESPN is mostly concerning the journalistic standards of the network vs. the entertainment division.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: One such event came in 2010 when ESPN gave one hour of time, and the advertising money that goes with it, to NBA superstar LeBron James so he could announce where he would play during the 2010-11 NBA season. This program was called "The Decision" and received criticism because ESPN ceded control of the hour to an outside source, and the person doing the interview was Jim Gray, who was not an ESPN employee. This is in addition to the hours of hype preceding the special which was in the form of a three-hour "SportsCenter" telecast.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: There was a Texas Tech scandal, which involved "ESPN College Football" analyst Craig James. Through James, ESPN used its power to get head coach Mike Leach fired because of how James's son, Adam, was treated following a concussion.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: ESPN has also been accused of overpaying for sports broadcasting rights, and that Wall Street analysts have raised concerns that this could be a major drain on Disney as a whole, since the amount of money that can be recuperated from retransmission consent fees and advertising is limited; Disney still profits from the ESPN division but as of 2015 was cutting the network's higher-priced content to ensure long-term profitability. In October 2015, ESPN laid off about 300 employees, citing the rights costs combined with the increasing trend of cord-cutting.


title: Criticism of The Walt Disney Company

text: In November 2019, ESPN's owner The Walt Disney Company launched the streaming service called Disney+. ESPN heavily promoted the Disney+ launch, leading to accusations that the network was sacrificing its journalistic integrity. Examples cited by critics included a "Simpsons"-themed edition of "SportsCenter" "Top 10", as well as NFL reporter Adam Schefter tweeting that Disney+ "will change lives". Writing in "Slate", Laura Wagner said that the "tongue bath" for Disney+ "represents a new inflection point in ESPN's decline from journalistic institution to entertainment company". Wagner added "This clumsy marketing blitz is an embarrassing exercise that turns ostensible reporters into stooges. It's also a stark example of just how flimsy ESPN's editorial vision has become." Meanwhile, Kelly McBride of the nonprofit journalism organization the Poynter Institute in an interview with "The Washington Post" said "You're turning the journalist into a salesperson and asking them to upsell the product. That's not the relationship you want the journalist to have with the audience member. You want that relationship to be about trust in the journalist's expertise."