Newly Leaked Video Suggests Disney’s Turn To Politics Was Driven By Bob Iger’s Opposition To Jan 6th: “We Should Be Taking A Stand”
In recent years, the question of ‘Why exactly did Disney decide to throw their hats into the political ring?’ has been burning on the tongues of everyone from the studio’s casual viewers to their most vehement critics – and according to a newly leaked video, it appears the answer all has to do with one Bob Iger and the events of January 6th, 2021.
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While the House of Mouse, like most organizations, has quietly dabbled in politics behind the scenes by way of lobbyists and campaign donations, it was not until 2022 that they truly decided to throw their weight around on the political world stage.
That year, after then-CEO Bob Chapek initially declined to involve the company in the debate, Disney chose to publicly voice their opposition to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act (which has since been passed into state law).
“We were opposed to the bill from the outset, and we chose not to take a public position because we felt we could be more effective working behind the scenes directly with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle,” Chapek told the public during the company’s 2022 annual shareholder meeting. “But, despite weeks of effort, we were ultimately unsuccessful. I called [Florida Governor Ron] DeSantis this morning to express our disappointment and concern that if the legislation becomes law, it could be used to unfairly target gay, lesbian, non-binary and transgender kids and families.”
As noted above, the reason for this sudden shift in Disney’s operational policy has long been a mystery to the general public, with many a thinkpiece and podcast having been dedicated to trying to figure out the company’s rationale for the move.
But now, thanks to the work of independent journalist Christopher F. Rufo, they may have finally received their answer: It appears much of Disney’s turn to the political was motivated by then-company chairman and current-company CEO Bob Iger’s opposition to the Washington, D.C. riot of January 6th.
In a video excerpt of a January 2021 internal company meeting obtained by Rufo, Iger can be seen speaking to the topic of Disney’s role in politics, informing attendees, “You know, we’ve tended to shy away from politics, and in doing so, I think we’ve shied away from talking about issues that aren’t political at all, like the issues that we are talking about today, because we believe in doing so looks like we’re taking a stand,” before declaring, “Well, in reality, we should be taking a stand.”
“By the way, I take responsibility for this – I was CEO for 15 years,” he continued. “So you know, I managed the company’s public facing processes and how we were portraying ourselves, and I think that we have to be less cautious, as I think [then-CEO] Bob [Chapek] was just alluding to, about such things, and not be concerned.”
It was then that Iger raised the specific topic of Jan 6th, asserting, “Like commenting on what happened last week in Washington – that’s not political on our part at all.”
“We know that what we saw was fundamentally wrong,” he declared, “and that it was rooted in hatred and disrespect and contempt and intolerance, and we should feel free as a company to comment about that without retribution.”
Though Iger’s thoughts on Disney’s political aspirations end there, he then pivoted to praise the company’s work “in terms of diversity and inclusion on screen.”
“When we did Coco, for instance, at Pixar, a great example of that,” said the Disney exec. “Or Tiana [from Princess & the Frog]. Or Black Panther, of course, is one of the great examples of that.”
To this end, he then admitted, “I allowed those things to make me feel a bit complacent, in a sense. It’s not that I wanted to be that way, but I thoguht ‘Wow, we did Black Panther, how great are we?’ and it caused me to not focus as much as I should have on the culture of the company and the environment, and in the voices that were telling those stories as opposed to how they were just being portrayed on the screen.”
As of writing, Disney has yet to offer any public comment on the video excerpt shared by Rufo.
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