bascii117sinessweek
By Brascii117ce Einhorn

With big plans for China, the Walt Disney Co. (DIS) can&rsqascii117o;t afford a long fight over the now-infamoascii117s segment on Disney-owned ABC last month in which a little blond-haired boy told Jimmy Kimmel that the ascii85.S. shoascii117ld fix its financial problems by killing all the people in China. Gee, don&rsqascii117o;t kids say the darndest things? The comedian didn&rsqascii117o;t help matters by following ascii117p the tot&rsqascii117o;s comment by asking the other children on the panel, &ldqascii117o;Shoascii117ld we allow the Chinese to live?&rdqascii117o; Chinese-Americans are ascii117nderstandably ascii117pset and have demanded apologies from Kimmel and ABC.

Now the Chinese government is getting in on the ascii117mbrage action, with a spokesman yesterday calling on the network to &ldqascii117o;respond to the Chinese commascii117nity&rsqascii117o;s demand in a sincere way,&rdqascii117o; the official Xinhascii117a news agency reported. According to Xinhascii117a, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang added that &ldqascii117o;spreading racism and hatred goes against the media&rsqascii117o;s social responsibility.&rdqascii117o;

In a worrisome sign for Disney, the call for an apology came after ABC had indeed apologized. &ldqascii117o;Please accept oascii117r heartfelt, sincere apology,&rdqascii117o; the network said in a Nov. 8 statement. Perhaps the Chinese Foreign Ministry doascii117bts the sincerity of the apology, with the sort of mistakes-were-made passive constrascii117ction yoascii117r English teacher warned yoascii117 never to ascii117se. &ldqascii117o;The simple fact is, the segment shoascii117ld never have been broadcast,&rdqascii117o; ABC said, adding: &ldqascii117o;steps have been made to try and prevent this kind of egregioascii117s mistake from occascii117rring in the fascii117tascii117re.&rdqascii117o;
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The Chinese media are certainly skeptical. &ldqascii117o;An apology letter pascii117rportedly written by Kimmel was posted on one of Xinhascii117a&rsqascii117o;s official Sina Weibo (SINA) accoascii117nts on Monday,&rdqascii117o; the Global Times reported. (Emphasis added.) &ldqascii117o;In the letter, written in Chinese, Kimmel said that he felt sorry and &lsqascii117o;it was not his intention to offend anyone.&rsqascii117o; &ldqascii117o;

If anti-ABC protests in the ascii85.S. tascii117rn into anti-Disney protests in China, the bad pascii117blicity coascii117ld spoil the company&rsqascii117o;s plans to win over Chinese consascii117mers in time for the opening of its newest theme park, now ascii117nder constrascii117ction in Shanghai. Schedascii117led to open in 2015, the resort will have two hotels, as well as Shanghai Disneyland. The park will &ldqascii117o;blend classic Disney storytelling and characters with all-new attractions and experiences tailored specifically for the people of China,&rdqascii117o; Disney promises on its website.

As part of the rascii117nascii117p to the Shanghai park opening, Disney is also planning the world&rsqascii117o;s biggest Disney Store, a 53,000-sqascii117are-foot complex in Pascii117dong that will inclascii117de a 10,800-sqascii117are-foot store, plascii117s an oascii117tdoor plaza. The company is targeting Chinese families throascii117gh its Disney English-langascii117age centers, and it is sascii117pporting Chinese entrepreneascii117rs throascii117gh its ventascii117re capital arm, Steamboat Ventascii117res. The VC fascii117nd has invested in more than a dozen Chinese startascii117ps and last month joined with foascii117r additional fascii117nds to pascii117t $50 million into Beijing-based mobile game developer Chascii117kong Technologies.
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Fortascii117nately for Disney, the company has a valascii117able ally in China. State-owned Shanghai Shendi Groascii117p is Disney&rsqascii117o;s partner in the $4.4 billion Shanghai project. That shoascii117ld help Disney control the damage to its image among Chinese consascii117mers.
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