Disney CEO apologizes for fines for elementary school that aired 'The Lion King' in fundraising activities


by

Christine Sponchia

The 2019 movie 'The Lion King ', which was remade from Disney's masterpiece animation 'The Lion King ' with a live-action full CG movie, became a shining hit in the top two box office revenues in 2019. An elementary school that aired such a movie 'The Lion King' at a charity event was asked to pay a fine. It has evolved into a situation where Disney's CEO apologizes.

Disney tells Berkeley parents they owe $ 250 for screening'The Lion King' — Berkeleyside
https://www.berkeleyside.com/2020/01/31/disney-tells-berkeley-parents-they-owe-250-for-screening-the-lion-king

A school played'The Lion King' at a fundraising event. Now it has to pay a third of what it raised --CNN
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/04/us/lion-king-elementary-school-250-trnd/index.html

Disney Chairman Apologizes to PTA Asked to Pay Fee After'Lion King' Screening --The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/us/lion-king-berkeley-movie-licensing.html



Disney CEO Bob Iger apologizes after school is fined for Lion King showing --The Verge

https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/6/21126503/disney-lion-king-pta-california-fine-licensing-bob-iger-apology

The incident began with a charity event organized by the PTA subcommittee 'Dad's Club' at Emerson Elementary School in Berkeley, California, USA. At elementary schools in the United States, a regular event called 'Parents Night Out' is held in which the school keeps the child overnight so that parents of the child can enjoy the time of only two people at night, November 15, 2019. That night, a screening was held at Emerson Elementary School to let children enjoy the pizza and the remake version of ' Lion King.'

Children who brought pajamas and blankets gathered at the screening, and children in 'family with financial resources' bought a $ 15 ticket. However, the child was not denied admission just because he did not buy the ticket.

At this screening, Emerson Elementary School's PTA succeeded in raising about $ 800 (about 88,000 yen). However, about two months after the event, Emerson Elementary School received an email. The sender is the licensing company Movie Licensing USA , and the email says, 'If the movie is not shown under the proper license, it is a violation of copyright law and the entity that showed the movie may be fined by the rights source. There is a sex. The school must get a performance license. '

PTA chairman David Rose told American television station CNN that 'The Lion King was bought by one of his parents at a consumer electronics retailer, so the event touched the law. I never thought about it. ' Although I didn't know it, it was a fact that I infringed the copyright, so Emerson Elementary School chose to pay a screening fee of $ 250 (about 27,000 yen) as a fine. I was forced to solicit donations again.


by diego_cervo

This was disputed by Congressman Laurie Droste of the local Berkeley City Council. 'It's ridiculous for a large, incredibly wealthy corporate licensing agency to chase after a PTA that is struggling to pay school teachers, pay scholarships, and fund school extracurricular activities. That's not the case, 'he blamed Disney.

In the background of Mr. Droste's violent criticism of Disney for paying fees in accordance with the law, ' California Law Referendum Section 13 (formal name: resident proposal to limit property tax) enforced in 1979 ) ”. This law, but the law to strictly limit the property tax, which the government California received a big blow to lose almost half of the tax revenue, California public schools are in significant financial difficulties suffered beneath.

On the other hand, there is a loophole in 'Referendum Item 13' that 'the company does not re-evaluate the land purchased when the land price is low'. 'Since the fixed asset tax rate on Disney's assets remains in 1978, Disney is floating millions of dollars a year,' Droste said.

'Someone believes that'while Disney earns millions of dollars from a loophole in the law that has driven a public school in California to ruin, it's begging $ 250 from the PTA at Emerson Elementary School,'Droste said. Is there anyone who wants to hear what you want to say? '



In response to this incident, Disney CEO Robert Iger posted, 'We apologize to the PTA at Emerson Elementary School and make a personal donation to their funding.'



However, Disney has not responded to inquiries from multiple news media, and at the time of writing it is unclear whether Emerson Elementary School will continue to receive fines from Disney.

in Movie, Posted by log1l_ks