The Walt Disney has really stepped in it now, at a time when they really do not need conflict. Already they have plenty of worries with the potential of decoupling from the Chinese economy should China invade Taiwan, which could damage Disney by more than 10% of their total annual revenue… in addition to billions of real estate investments.
Yet CEO Bob Chapek may have just made his first big mistake as the big cheese of the mouse’s empire.
The bill that has been dubbed the “Anti-Grooming Bill” by conservatives and the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” by liberals is almost certainly about to become law in Florida. It prevents kindergarten through third grade teachers and programs from having sex or gender theory curriculum in Florida public schools. In the shareholder meeting today, Chapek was repeatedly pressed on the issue, while at the same time receiving significant flak from inside his company. The Walt Disney Company is based in California, after all, and the politics of California are dramatically different than Florida.
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🌈 https://t.co/8IroJDi5bN— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) March 8, 2022
Yet the response from Bob Chapek is unlikely to make anyone happy — a sure sign that he has been caught off guard.
Disney has promised to donate a paltry five million to unnamed LGBTQ+ groups and Chapek stated that they had “privately” pushed for the Florida legislature to drop the bill. That’s the fig leaf being given to opponents of the bill. Do you think that is enough? I sincerely doubt it. This is no “boycott of Georgia” maneuver by Disney, and that’s probably because they know this is a no-win situation for them. But staying quiet they did not, and now the governor of Florida is calling their bluff:
Here’s the message from the office of Governor Ron DeSantis. Note the bold:
“Governor DeSantis has always been open to hearing from Floridians and having conversations about legislation — as long as those discussions are grounded in facts, not false media narratives. Anyone who has questions or concerns about the Parental Rights in Education Bill is encouraged to read the bill, rather than the distorted coverage in the mainstream media, which regurgitates false partisan talking points.
Disney contacted our office today to speak with the governor. This is the first time we have heard from Disney regarding HB 1557. The governor did take the call from Mr. Chapek. The governor’s position has not changed. No in-person meeting has been scheduled yet.
Disney is a family-friendly company that creates wholesom entertainment for kids. The same Florida parents who take their families to Disney also support parental rights in education, because they do not want their young children exposed to inappropriate content about sex and gender theory at school.”
For Disney, this is the worst of both worlds. They’ve not acted strongly enough to make their liberal studios and fans happy. Likewise, they’ve now come out against a bill in the conservative state of Florida at a time when conservatives are likely to take back the congress per polling. Even worse, the governor of Florida has pointed out they have never contacted his office before, AND Disney is being called out to name what it is exactly they do not like in the bill. Getting into specifics is territory that Disney would rather not enter at all costs. Once an entertainment company begins telling parents what their five-year-old should be taught about sex, good luck cleaning up that public relations nightmare.
Yes, the pressure inside the entertainment world pushed Bob Chapek into a place he didn’t want to go. Now that he’s there, he’s in a spot with no good escape hatch.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and make sure to keep checking That Park Place for all the latest information about things that should be fun.
I’ll be addressing this either in a video or Sunday on the live show 5pm CST
This was also with the blessing of Chair, Susan Arnold; however, I think they were initially planning to not become involved, until creatives within Disney spoke out. Therefore, it was reaching the trades and financial news stories – with negative stories – (plus unions released statements). They do not want to lose these employees (within the studios or Imagineering) to the competition (to Universal, Netflix, etc). [Although, if the disgruntled employees are honest with themselves, they know there are issues, in their eyes, with the competition as well, i.e. Universal (and WB)/Rowling and Netflix/Chappelle.] For those employees, this may be enough. Time will tell if there is a ripple effect outward, including to the general public.
Does Disney need these employees that are so far left that Disney lost money in film and licensing for 2 consecutive quarters? Pixar can no longer produce profitable animation with the loss of John Lasseter. This is the perfect time to clean house.
Disney is not responsible for the politics of Florida. They will damage the golden goose and no one cares anymore.
Very much looking forward to it.
Chapek should just wait for the Governor to sign it. Then it’s a done deal and it won’t change anything. Republicans are unlikely to repeal it. I’m sure LGBT will boycott Florida, but boycotting Disney specifically makes no sense although they’ll twist their logic to fit.
Families are the majority of Disney’s customers. Chapek should’ve said he read the bill, encouraged others to read it, and determined that the contoversy wasn’t related or worth Disney’s time.
Kowtowing to the authoritarian “community” got Disney into this situation. They should grow a spine and quit giving them the time of day on whatever outrage of the week comes up.
I like Bob’s handling of the situation, and I appreciated his press release.
The Bill doesn’t block sex education in Kindergarten through Third Grade. The Bill requires parental notification.
All this bill does is stop random sex conversations with 8 year olds and younger without telling the parents first. Why is an adult teacher talking about sex with a kid?
The law has protections if the teacher fears abuse of the student.
Also, if you think a kid is gay under 8 years old, can we not explain to them the sex aspect.
Care to comment about this?
https://boundingintocomics.com/2022/03/09/disney-caves-to-left-wing-pressure-comes-out-against-floridas-anti-grooming-bill/
It looks to be a nice summation of the pro-bill point of view and the dangers Disney faces in taking a political position on sex and gender theory in elementary school.
The only people outraged about this bill are either dumb (because they haven’t read it) or sick. Anyone who believes this stuff should be talk to 8 year old children is mentally ill.
My feeling was they should have held firm as they were mostly doing until they blew it in yesterday’s meeting. Once the bill is passed the news cycle would move on but Chapek did not stick the landing and it got a little sloppy. In coming right out and saying “ok yeah we don’t agree with the bill” in order to give their tyrant employees the win he lost the moral high ground. What’s worse, is he gave it away for absolutely nothing since the crazies won’t accept anything less than full-Iger compliance anyway. So now, Disney/Chapek is essentially on record in support of government teaching 5, 6 and 7 year olds about sex and sex change operations (a loss for anyone with even remote conservative values or common sense – including Chapek himself probably), the screaming meemie’s have bullied yet another capitulation from Disney but will continue their full scale assault on Chapek anyway and De Santis pretty much called Chapek on the carpet because he knows (and Chapek SHOULD know) you never ever feed the damn sharks. So yeah, yesterday was a big game and Chapek fumbled the ball. Not great.
Valiant/WDWPro – My other thought on this… I was wondering if Chapek’s last minute “ok I give in” was really about the employee pressure (as if there isn’t other talent out there), the twitter/media pressure (which would have died down once bill passed anyway), or was this bending the knee to someone larger? Like, is there Blackrock pressure here? Is this an ESG thing?? A shareholder group Chapek and Arnold could not continue to hold firm on? I just feel like there had to be something else in play that we aren’t seeing? Chapek seems very calculated and measured so the awkward De Santis play that blew up and the last minute “ok you win” just feels too hasty and frankly sloppy. Something just feels off.