The fresh round of layoffs will impact all of Disney’s media businesses and will leave a path of emotional sorrow in the company’s aftermath.
A now-famous LinkedIn message allegedly written by a disgruntled former Disney employee “in denial” about being fired has gone viral. Some ABC News staffers reportedly feel that the layoffs are being used as an excuse to settle old grudges, as was reported by the New York Post.
The anonymous “Jeanette L.” who wrote the LinkedIn post states that she had worked for Disney’s Streaming Advanced Research team.
I can’t believe it, and I’m writing these things now. It would be a “dream come true,” she said, to work for Disney. I count myself fortunate to call these folks pals. The #disneylayoffs, which affected everyone in my area, forced me to resign my job at Disney.
As a last request, she asked that they let her know if they came across any jobs that would be a good fit for her front-end engineering background. It would be quite helpful to have that.
Godwin, the network’s CEO, is blamed by the Post for creating a “culture of fear” within ABC News.
Breitbart News reports that as part of Disney’s cutbacks, Godwin recently removed a large number of employees at ABC News, including those of several senior-level news journalists.
“Everyone says it was a way to settle scores and that it was handled badly,” the insider told the Post. According to a source familiar with the situation, long-term employees (those with twenty years or more) were occasionally let go with little to no notice.
Someone said that the horrific violence on Game of Thrones was called the “Red Wedding” by another viewer.
The Post cites an anonymous source saying that under Godwin and her new leadership team, ABC News has gone from being a welcoming place for inquisitive viewers to a place where they feel unsafe. They were able to do this by snatching the proverbial “car keys.”
According to the source, “ABC News is built on asking questions,” but as long as Kim is in charge, “there will be no questions at all.”
The Walt Disney Company has stated it would lay off 7,000 workers in an effort to recover from a terrible 2022, during which its stock price dropped by 44 percent and it lost money for no apparent reason. CEO Bob Chapek was let go at the conclusion of the previous year.