Misc
Planned Parenthood Apologizes After Facing Backlash Over Disney Princess Tweet
Another day, another controversy. But, this time the debate combines two unlikely topics: Planned Parenthood and Disney princesses. A local Planned Parenthood located in suburban Pennsylvania posted a since-deleted tweet calling for more representation in the storylines of the fairytale characters.
The branch shared the following post: "We need a disney princess who's had an abortion. We need a disney princess who's pro-choice. We need a disney princess who's an undocumented immigrant. We need a disney princess who's actually a union worker. We need a disney princess who's trans."
The tweet was a nod to a meme which suggests new traits for Disney heroines. The trend began on Twitter in September 2017 after comedian Sofie Hagen voiced the need for more fat Disney princesses.
https://twitter.com/SofieHagen/status/904021701356290049
After that tweet was circulated on the Internet, other versions began popping up on the social media site as well. Users began sharing the want to see Disney princesses with anything from comical to absurd storylines.
https://twitter.com/nickdenbow11/status/978449331337531392
we need a disney princess who can’t do basic math
— adam (@brokeangeI) March 26, 2018
we need a Disney princess who gets dumped by a fuck boy and uses it as motivation to get into Harvard law school and graduate as valedictorian
— Greg Sheffer (@gsheffr) March 26, 2018
It's evident that the Planned Parenthood account was attempting to get in on the joke. But, not surprisingly, the tweet upset people due to the sensitive nature of the topic of abortion. Planned Parenthood subsequently issued a statement apologizing for the tweet.
"Today, we joined an ongoing Twitter conversation about the kinds of princesses people want to see in an attempt to make a point about the importance of telling stories that challenge stigma and championing stories that too often don't get told," Melissa Reed, president of Planned Parenthood Keystone, told USA Today. "Upon reflection, we decided that the seriousness of the point we were trying to make was not appropriate for the subject matter or context, and we removed the tweet."
It's still left to be determined whether the organization did more harm than good with the social media snafu. Plenty of pro-life and pro-choice adults voiced concern over the tweet.
