In November, the Dads Club at Emerson Elementary School in Berkeley held a family movie night. Attendees watched the 2019 remake of The Lion King, because who isn’t a figure dads can look up to if not the towering Mufasa?
The club made around $800 on the event but it never paid Disney the licensing fees. An agency that helps studios enforce intellectual property rights sent the PTA and the school an email letting them know they had broken a somewhat obscure law and that they now owed the company $250.
People did not take kindly to that suggestion. It looked like an example of abject greed by a company worth billions of dollars.
Berkeley City Councilwoman Lori Droste piled on:
“...coming after an elementary school? Really?? Disney wants $250 when we are struggling to pay our teachers and spending per pupil is laughable?” she tweeted.
In the wake of a backlash, Disney Co. chairman Bob Iger has forgiven the debt and personally apologized to the school and its PTA. Iger said he will also donate to the Dads Club. They can feel the love tonight.