Disney-owned Hulu to roll out gay-themed reality dating shows on streaming platform
Disney-owned Hulu recently acquired streaming rights to the U.K.'s first gay-themed reality dating shows, the first of which is slated to roll out on the streaming platform in the middle of so-called pride month in June.
"I Kissed a Boy" will premiere on Hulu on June 15 and be hosted by Australian actress Dannii Minogue, according to Deadline.
The premise features 10 single gay men in an Italian villa who will initiate the dating process with another contestant by kissing him before meeting or even speaking to him, according to a trailer for the show. If a man does not get kissed, he is removed from the program.
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Scenes from the show in the trailer depict the men participating in overtly homosexual behavior, including kissing and dancing suggestively in scantily clad outfits.
Hulu also acquired the rights to the lesbian-themed "I Kissed a Girl," according to Deadline. The show, which premiered earlier this month on the BBC, features a similar setup, but with women. The date of its Hulu premiere has yet to be announced, but will happen later this summer, the outlet reported.
The shows are featured in Hulu's pride month lineup, which the Disney-owned platform announced earlier this month. The Walt Disney Company first obtained a majority stake in Hulu when it purchased 21st Century Fox in 2019.
The entertainment behemoth has been steadily combining Hulu with its other app Disney+, which includes programming for children. Hulu has taken flak for some of its other programming in recent years that some alleged pushed an overtly LGBT agenda on kids.
In February, Hulu backtracked after being accused of rejecting a church's advertisement for allegedly violating a prohibition on "religious indoctrination."
During a recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) report released last fall, Disney acknowledged that its controversial stances on social issues could endanger its bottom line by causing "risks relating to misalignment with public and consumer tastes."
Following protests from LGBT employees in 2022, Disney waded into the culture wars by denouncing Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill that prohibits gender identity and sexuality instruction to elementary school students.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis subsequently labeled the company "woke" and worked together with the state Legislature to strip the company of the special rights that Walt Disney World had in Orlando as a special administrative tax zone.
