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Fans slammed Disney for not including Demi Lovato, one of their most popular teen stars, in a montage created for their 40th anniversary. The network is also being called out for hiding comments regarding Demi’s s**ual assault allegations.
The 30-year-old singer, who uses "they/them" pronouns, shared their “#MeToo Story” in their 2021 documentary Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil. The pop singer claimed that they lost their virginity at 15 to a fellow Disney actor who ra*ed them and never faced any consequences for it.
Disney Channel, which was founded in 1983, is celebrating its 40th year. They shared a wand ID compilation on Twitter where they included other popular Disney stars like Selena Gomez, the Jonas Brothers, Jenna Ortega, Miley Cyrus, Zendaya, Raven-Symoné, Olivia Rodrigo, Dove Cameron, and a few others.
However, the exclusion of Demi Lovato, who starred in Camp Rock and Sonny with a Chance, and has been one of Disney’s most famous pop talents, has enraged fans.
One Twitter user, @stellarissolxr, pointed out that Disney purposefully ignored Demi's existence and excluded them from the montage because they spoke out about their SA. The user called Disney executives "evil af" for burying the allegations.
Demi Lovato opened up about their SA in Dancing With the Devil
In their documentary Dancing With the Devil, Demi opened up about their struggles with an eating disorder, addiction, and many traumas. They revealed that back in 2018, when they overdosed, they were s**ually assaulted by the dealer who mixed up their heroin. When they relapsed shortly after, Demi went back to that same person.
They called the person back after the incident and tried to take back the power. However, Demi shared that it did not fix anything, and in the end, it brought them back to their knees, where they begged God for help.
The former Disney star further added that the OD incident was not the first time they had been a victim of SA. Demi said:
“When I was a teenager, I was in a very similar situation. I lost my virginity in a r**e. I called that person back a month later and tried to make it right by being in control, and all it did was just make me feel worse.”
Demi revealed that they were 15 at the time of the r**e. The singer said that they were hooking up with the assaulter before it happened, but they told the person that it was not going any further, and since Demi was a virgin back then, they told him that they did not want to lose their virginity that way. Demi continued:
“And that didn’t matter to them, they did it anyway.”
The singer said that they internalized it and started believing that it was their fault since they went into the room with the person on their own.
The two-time Grammy nominee explained that they were afraid to speak up on the matter at the time as they were part of the Disney crowd that advertised the notion of waiting until marriage to have physical intercourse. Demi continued how the incident affected their mental as well as physical health:
“I didn’t have the romantic first time with anybody. That was not it for me, and that sucked, then I had to see that person all the time. So, I stopped eating and coped in other ways — cutting, throwing up, whatever. My bulimia got so bad that I started throwing up blood for the first time.”
Demi Lovato shared that they once told someone about the r**e, but the assaulter was not punished. The former actor claimed that their culprit never got into any trouble, nor did they get excluded from the cast of the movie they were in.
Demi Lovato fans call Disney out for excluding the singer from their 40th-anniversary montage
Fans of the Cool For the Summer singer raised their voices against Disney. Many pointed fingers at the channel and claimed that it left Demi out of their celebratory montage because the singer opened up about being r**ed while working at Disney.
Netizens emphasized that Demi Lovato was probably the most talented pop star on the channel, and leaving them out was not justified. Several fans pointed out how Demi raised a generation alone with their skillful voice in the Camp Rock series.
The docuseries Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil was released in April 2021 and featured four episodes.
