Bay Area school fined for showing “The Lion King”

By Hope Bidegainberry on February 6, 2020

An elementary school in Berkeley hosted a PTA fundraiser and they played last year s remake of The Lion King to keep the kids entertained.

Somehow Disney found out about it, and the company that handles their licensing sent the school a $250 fine for playing the movie without permission.

The DVD was purchased legally at a Best Buy but apparently that doesn’t matter. The school got an email saying that Disney “received an alert” about the “screening,” and,”If a movie is shown for any entertainment reason, even in the classroom, it is required by law that the school obtains a Public Performance license.”

I can tell you I had many teachers in school that never asked for permission. It was usually a spur of the moment decision.

People have reached out to the school to help the PTA with donations.

Now I’m curious, how did Disney find out?

 

Update:

Disney CEO, Bob Iger is speaking out about the issue, and apologizing for everything that has happened so far. Iger took to twitter and offered an apology to Emerson Elementary’s Parent-Teacher Association. He also promised to donate some of his own money to the school’s fund raising.

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