Many companies have decided to go full “woke.”
Entertainment king Disney is perhaps the most obvious offender of this leftward tilt.
But Disney’s CEO made one stunning comment that proved Ron DeSantis right.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek was just shoved out the door despite recently signing a contract extension.
Chapek oversaw the company during a period where its stock price was essentially cut in half.
Even though Chapek was reportedly not inclined to wade Disney into politics, he succumbed to pressure from leftist activists inside the company and wealth management firm BlackRock.
Chapek is being replaced by his immediate predecessor Bob Iger, who’s ideologically to Chapek’s left; Iger strongly considered running for president as a Democrat.
But even Iger is now sending out smoke signals that the company may tone down its political advocacy.
During a company townhall, Iger was asked about Disney’s foray into politics and he responded, “I think there’s a misperception here about what politics is…Some of the subjects that have been proven to be controversial as it relates to Disney have been branded political, and I don’t think they are…Do I like the company being embroiled in controversy? Of course not,” adding that he would try “to the extent that I can quiet things down.”
Iger threw a sop to his “woke” employees while also noting that he will attempt to steer clear of unnecessary controversy.
Iger also had a softened edge regarding Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pulling Disney’s special dispensation in the Reedy Creek Improvement District.
The new CEO said, “I had no idea what its ramifications are in terms of the business itself…The state of Florida has been very important to us for a long time, and we have been very important to the state of Florida.”
Earlier in the year when Iger was on the sidelines, he was singing a different tune regarding DeSantis’s Parental Rights in Education law, which was smeared as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
DeSantis did not back down and said during a press conference, “I also think that you have companies like a Disney that are gonna say and criticize parents’ rights, they’re gonna criticize the fact that we don’t want transgenderism in kindergarten and first grade classrooms. If that’s the hill that they’re gonna die on, then how do they possibly explain lining their pockets with their relationship from the Communist Party of China? Because that’s what they do, and they make a fortune and they don’t say a word about the really brutal practices that you see over there at the hands of the CCP.”
Disney can be as “woke” as it wants to be until the business takes a massive hit.
The new animated feature Strange World, which featured a gay teenager, was a colossal box office flop.
Lightyear also underperformed arguably in large part due to a lesbian relationship in the movie.
If Iger wants to repair Disney’s image, he’s going to have to stop pandering to the small portion of the country that is far-left.