Disney is badly damaging its brand.
The company bent the knee to radical leftists, and the business has been suffering as a result.
Now the Disney CEO who fought Ron DeSantis just got some shocking news.
In a stunning move, Disney CEO Bob Chapek is out, and his predecessor Bob Iger is back in.
Disney has had many missteps recently, and Chapek has taken the fall.
Chapek, who reportedly wanted the company to be apolitical, was dragged into culture war fights by far-left activists within the company and wealth management behemoth BlackRock.
BlackRock has been strong-arming companies to comply with ESG (environmental, social, and governance) guidelines.
However, adhering to “woke” ESG principles does not make for good business.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
“Iger stepped aside as CEO in February 2020, handing the reins to Chapek, who previously led the company’s theme parks and consumer products division. Iger continued to serve as executive chairman of the company, stepping down from that position just 11 months ago…[Chapek’s] tenure has also been rocky, marked with controversies and distractions. From the aggressive campaign against Marvel star Scarlett Johansson that resulted in a settlement over pay for Black Widow, to Disney’s response (or lack thereof) to Florida’s so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, Chapek has had to deal with a wide array of public misfires during his relatively brief tenure atop the company.”
Chapek initially wanted to stay out of the scrape over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s Parental Rights in Education legislation, which was smeared by the Left as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
The law simply prevents public school employees from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in K-3 classrooms, which was so reasonable that even a majority of Democrats supported.
Chapek did not trust his instincts and half-stepped into the controversy, which satisfied no one.
Iger reportedly criticized Chapek behind the scenes for not going harder at DeSantis.
And Governor DeSantis said in response to Disney, “I…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.”
Iger, a long-time Democratic donor who floated the idea of running for president, is to Chapek’s left, so people should not expect him to scale back the “woke” content.
If Iger does, it would be an admission that Chapek’s apolitical impulse was correct, but he was forced to be the fall guy nonetheless.
The writing was on the wall when it was reported that Igor called turning over the company to Chapek one of his “worst business decisions.”
If Iger doubles down on “woke,” Chapek’s tenure could end up looking like a success in comparison.