Disney CEO Bob Iger returned to the business at the end of 2018, claiming he wanted to “quiet things down” in the political conflict between Disney and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. (R). On Monday, Iger did the opposite, saying that DeSantis was “not only anti-business, but anti-Florida” for his supposed retaliation against Disney.
At the Walt Disney Company’s annual shareholders gathering on Monday, Bob Iger delivered those combative remarks in front of a background of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Orlando. Nonetheless, he minimized Disney’s responsibility for sparking the conflict by having previous CEO Bob Chapek criticize the state’s Parental Rights in Education legislation.
Florida’s legislation, dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by the media, forbids schools from teaching about sexuality and transgenderism to students in grades kindergarten through third.
Florida revoked Disney’s self-governing status in Orlando, a valuable corporate luxury the company had enjoyed for half a century, after Disney opposed the law and promised to work to overturn it.
Iger attempted to shift the responsibility for the dispute onto DeSantis on Monday, saying that the governor reacted against Disney while disregarding the fact that Disney had initiated the conflict.
“A company has a right to freedom of speech just like an individual does,” he was quoted as saying. Iger said Bob Chapek, his predecessor, could have managed things more politely, but he mostly criticized Florida’s governor. The attorney general of Florida, Ron DeSantis, “retaliates against us,” he said, “in effect to punish a company for exercising its constitutional right.” That, in my opinion, is totally unacceptable.
Later, he quickly ran through a laundry list of Disney’s benefits to Florida’s business. We’re saying that anything done to sabotage the company’s efforts out of spite for its political stance is anti-business and anti-Florida.
Iger said at the shareholder meeting that Disney will keep producing the same kind of “woke” material that has been bombing with audiences and has been blamed for the company’s financial downturn over the past year.
He went on to say that Disney will keep making shows that encourage “greater understanding, greater acceptance” because “diversity is a real priority for us.”