Disney Leaves Out Demi Lovato From A 40th Anniversary Post And Is Reportedly Unhappy With Her Claim Of Being Raped As A Teen

Singer and actress Demi Lovato got an early start in her career and began working in the entertainment industry at an early age. Her first part on a Disney Channel show was in "As the Bell Rings" and she later landed a starring role in the Disney movie Camp Rock. In 2009, she played the lead in a Disney series called "Sonny with a Chance." Her career continued to explode as she got older and left Disney, and she has since become one of the most popular names in pop music. Demi has found herself in a number of controversies over the years, including and especially publicly bashing a local yogurt shop in Los Angeles because they carried sugar-free cookies and she felt triggered by seeing them on the way to the register. In August 2022, Demi was a guest on the hit podcast "Call Her Daddy" and shared details about her time at Disney that may have affected her relationship with the network.

Disney Leaves Out Demi Lovato from a 40th Anniversary Post and Is Reportedly Unhappy with Her Claim of Being Raped as a Teen

Demi opened up about the golden era of Disney that included stars like Hilary Duff, Miley Cyrus, and Selena Gomez in the early days of their career. She told Alex, host of "Call Her Daddy," that she always felt a pressure of performing well and doing what she was told because that was always a feeling of being replaceable. "I would even go so far to say that there was a brainwashing element to it," she said, adding that Disney barricaded her inside her hotel room at one point by putting furniture in front of the door so she couldn't get out.

That's when Alex asked Demi about some lyrics about her song called "29." She read the lyrics aloud: "Too young to drink wine / just five years a bleeder / student and a teacher / far from innocent / what the fuck is consent / numbers told you not to / but that didn't stop you."

She said she was raped as a teenager when she worked for Disney, and the perpetrator was also a Disney employee. But "it wasn't anyone in the immediate Disney circle." She said it probably wasn't someone that people could guess, but they were friends on set. To make matters even worse, she was a virgin at the time.

"If you're a young girl and you think it's sexy or fun to date older men, it's not okay," Demi advised.

On April 1, the Disney Channel shared a video on their Twitter account celebrating their 40th anniversary. "Would it even be a #DisneyChannel40 kick-off without a wand ID compilation," the tweet read. The video was a montage of Selena Gomez, Raven, Jenna Ortega, the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Zendaya, Ashley Tisdale, and more. People found it odd that Demi wasn't included, as she was a big part of this era.

The comment section has been flooded with Demi's fans who accuse Disney of intentionally leaving her out of the 40th anniversary celebration—all because she talked about the alleged rape that happened under Disney's watch.

"Silencing someone 15 years ago when they said they were raped & asked for help and then completely disregarding the major impact they had to your company 15 years later because they spoke about their trauma is disgusting and confirms any type of 'Disney is dysfunctional' stories," someone commented.

Others posted photos and videos of Demi during her Disney years while others posted headlines of Demi talking about the alleged rape that robbed her of her virginity. Countless fans are furious at the idea that Disney has intentionally snubbed her because they're upset that she had the guts to reveal the sexual assault of her teenage years. Disney of course has not commented on the matter and Demi hasn't either, but there are plenty of people, fans or otherwise, who are curious about why she hasn't shown up at all in the 40th anniversary celebration.