A Canby city councilor is in hot water and facing a possible recall effort once again after several posts on her personal social media accounts expressing a controversial opinion.
Councilor Fiona Fork has been no stranger to controversy in her four years of public service, including a current recall campaign that was filed after her efforts to build a playground and soup kitchen for homeless orphans angered some community members.
But she may have just landed in her biggest scandal yet after a series of Facebook and Instagram posts were unearthed in which she expressed the belief that Disney’s new animated musical comedy Encanto is better than the company’s 2013 smash hit Frozen.
Released to widespread critical acclaim last November, Encanto tells the story of a multigenerational family living in rural Colombia, who must explore their past and relationships to understand why their magical gifts are getting weaker.
“Just watched Encanto for the first time. Instant classic,” Fork said in a December 3 video on Instagram. “It makes Frozen 2 look like Shrek 4.”
Other posts went into greater detail, as Fork praised the film’s culturally diverse setting and vocal cast, beautiful animation, and original songs by acclaimed composer Lin-Manuel Miranda.
“Encanto was an original story about how a family’s love for each other can triumph over tragic loss and violent civil war,” Fork wrote in a Facebook post. “Frozen was a Hans Christian Andersen ripoff about how a magic snowman can help two sisters overcome the tragedy of having different personalities and hair colors.”
Several commenters who spoke Wednesday night castigated Fork, calling her comments disrespectful, unbecoming and even disqualifying for office.
“This country is built upon our freedoms,” said Devin Pappalardo, head of the Oregon Ammo Fraternity (OAF), a statewide lobbying group that focuses on gun rights legislation and Canby City Council races.
“Freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of opinion. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to live in a world where a city councilor gets to say Encanto is better than Frozen.”
“Frozen is not only the greatest Disney movie ever; it may well be the greatest film — animated or otherwise — ever created,” announced Don Dickson, a Butteville School Board member who skipped a district-sponsored diversity and inclusion workshop to comment at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
“And unlike Encanto, which glorifies the world’s largest producer and exporter of cocaine and heroin, Frozen celebrates a tradition from which many of our founding fathers derived their heritage and culture.”
Dickson later admitted he had not actually cared for Frozen until recently.
And Skylar Cummings, a conservative activist and sometime attorney, said Fork’s opinions are not only unwelcome and wrong — they could also be illegal.
“Ever heard of the First Amendment?” she asked Wednesday night. “It guarantees freedom of speech. Now, look at the theme song from this trash movie. It’s called ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno.’ That’s right, people: According to Councilor Fork, a woke company should get to say what you can and can’t talk about.”
Cummings promised to file a recall petition against Fork, but said she would have to wait until after the current recall effort ends.
