Conservative employees wish they could stand up and speak out, but they’re scared of losing their jobs, Florida congressional candidate Jose Castillo said on the Todd Starnes Show.
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The following is a rush transcript from The Todd Starnes Radio Show. Listen to the program live Monday – Friday from 12 p.m. until 3 p.m. Click here to listen to the full interview.
TODD STARNES: [01:01:55] I want to go to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker Line. We’re honored to have a guy, I followed this guy on Twitter, and you should, too – Jose Castillo. He is running for Congress there in Florida as a Republican. Jose, what an honor to have you on the program today. [01:02:08][12.5]
JOSE CASTILLO: [01:02:09] Thank you for having me, Todd. Thank you for having me on your show. Yes, you know, I’m running for Congress. I’m a Disney cast member. It’s no secret here that I’m running for Congress. And you know, I said on my tweet, I don’t know if you got a chance to see it, but I said on my tweet that actually conservatives are the silent majority. And you know, there’s a lot of attention in the media right now because of the Parental Rights in Education bill that Governor DeSantis, thank God, signed into law. You know, he decided to stand with us, parents and our children. So, it’s getting a lot of attention. And you know, there’s a misconception, I think, that, you know, here in Orlando, here in The Walt Disney Company, we’re all raging liberals, and we’re not. That’s far from the truth. [01:02:53][43.8]
STARNES: [01:02:53] And Jose, again, that is the big news nugget here. You are running for Congress, you are a Republican, you are a cast member of Disney, which is what they call their employees. And a couple of days ago, we actually read that open letter that many cast members wrote, saying that they’re afraid to speak out. They’re afraid to go on the record, because of the woke agenda that has sort of taken over at Walt Disney World. [01:03:22][28.4]
CASTILLO: [01:03:23] Well, you know, I saw that open letter, and I was not part of that, but I understand the sentiment, because a lot of people reach out to me. In my job at Disney, I go from location to location and people stop me everywhere and they say to me, “Thank you. We see what you’re doing on social media. You’re being a loud voice for us. I wish I could do that. I give it a virtual thumbs up, but I don’t give it a like, because I don’t want to lose my job. I don’t want to be canceled. I don’t want to be censored.” But yeah, that is basically the sentiment. [01:03:54][30.9]
STARNES: [01:03:55] No, I mean, yeah, nobody wants to lose their job over this. At the same time, people have got to start speaking out, and that’s why I respect you for coming out on the record and saying, you know what? There are lots of conservatives who work at Disney, and they’re just afraid, for whatever reason, to speak out because they don’t want to be persecuted. Jose, have you seen the changes? I mean, how is this leftist agenda, the sex agenda been manifested there at Disney? [01:04:25][30.4]
CASTILLO: [01:04:27] Well, you know, we say afraid, but I think it’s also like a bit of a disappointment, you know, from some of the cast members at Disney. [01:04:37][9.4]
STARNES: [01:04:37] Fair enough. [01:04:38][1.0]
CASTILLO: [01:04:38] You know, really, what The Walt Disney Company is doing is they’re putting their hand in the wind and seeing where the wind blows and trying to figure it out. Because, initially, I mean, I’m sure you were aware they initially said they would not take a stance on this bill. We got memos saying they’re not going to take a stance. Then it was, no, we’re going to support this bill. Now they came out with a statement, the statement says our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the Legislature or struck down in the courts. And that is just ludicrous, you know, because the people of Florida voted for our Legislature, right? Duly elected representatives passed this law and the Governor signed it. And now they’re saying that their goal as a company is to repeal that. It’s just ludicrous. And it goes it goes far beyond their mission statement. If you go to The Walt Disney Company, and you look at the mission statement, they talk about entertaining, forming, and inspiring people, storytelling and talking about their brand and entertainment. Nowhere does it say they’re going to be fighting left and right, but that’s what they’re doing. But the reason I feel that they’re doing that is because, you know, they’re listening. You know, there’s a saying “the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” right? And they’re listening to a small minority that’s being very loud. So, us conservatives need to be loud. That’s what I’m doing right now. I’m trying to be a loud voice for conservatives. I’m doing it as a candidate, and I’m going to do it when I’m in Washington as well. [01:06:00][81.7]
STARNES: [01:06:00] And I hope that you and your fellow conservatives are successful in this. Jose, I think a great comparison here, I mean, look, the LGBT mob, and Jose on this program and we say LGBT mob, we mean a small but vocal and very angry subsection of that group. But they want to take over Disney. They want to conquer Disney, just like they conquered the Boy Scouts of America. I mean, they’re going after the American traditions, and they’ve been very successful. And that’s why I hope that people like yourself continue to stand up and fight back. [01:06:44][43.3]
CASTILLO: [01:06:45] Yeah, absolutely, and I heard the clip you put up right before you got me on. And, you know, I just think that strategy is not going to work for them because, you know, that’s not a reality of life, right? So, you know, if that was reality, if 50 percent of the people were LGBTQ, that would work. But that’s not reality. And furthermore, that is not average conversations that people have. When I meet someone, they don’t ask me if I’m straight or gay or any of that, right? Those are not conversations that people have. So, I don’t think that putting that into the content is just going to work for them, frankly. [01:07:22][37.1]
STARNES: [01:07:23] Alright, joseforflorida.com, that’s your website, and we have a direct link on our live show blog, folks. If you want to check out Jose’s great work, and not only is he a Disney cast member, he’s also a devout Catholic and a marathon runner, so that’s pretty impressive. Jose, we’re going to get you back on and we’ll talk about some of the other big issues facing the folks there in Florida. So, we’ll get you back on. We appreciate you coming on the program today. [01:07:51][27.8]