“I Quit” — A Thesis to Those Who Say Geoff Morrell Was Fired

This morning there was an article on That Park Place which was critical of the liberal news media for clearly switching narratives surrounding Dr. Strange and its likely ban from China. Now it’s time to share that criticism with a conservative outlet.

Various news articles from major publications have been saying that Geoff Morrell, the Disney VP of Corporate Affairs, was fired last Friday. In fact, people that we follow and like are saying the same thing. Perhaps none has been so egregious in making this claim as National Review’s Kyle Smith — he goes so far as to put it directly in the headline.

Disney Just Fired Its Corporate-Affairs Chief

That seems to be so the article can insight even more conservative frustration at The Walt Disney Company:

Both Disney CEO Bob Chapek and its previous CEO Bob Iger made the spectacularly unwise choice to make Disney (as far as I can tell) the only major company to interject itself into Florida’s politics over its new parental-rights law, so naturally it’s . . . the head of corporate affairs who got canned.

But even the trade publication, Deadline, isn’t any better. Take a look at this quote:

The hope at the highest level is that Morrell’s removal and the new reorganization will allow the media giant to come out from underneath the falling debris of the current situation.” And who caused that debris to fall? It wasn’t Morrell. It was Chapek and Iger. Chapek preposterously claimed to employees on March 11, “Speaking to you, reading your messages, and meeting with you have helped me better understand how painful our silence was. It is clear that this is not just an issue about a bill in Florida, but instead yet another challenge to basic human rights.”

Okay… okay… I get that there is drama to be had, but let’s take a look at some facts.

First, Geoff Morrell launched the opening salvo by sending the following statement to his Disney team:

After three months in this new role, it has become clear to me that for a number of reasons it is not the right fit.

That is clearly… clearly… not the type of statement you would expect in a forced-resignation situation where the contract is being broken by the corporation and therefore the severance package is fantastic. Remember, Morrell was a VP at Disney, hired directly by Chapek to moderate the company. To get rid of him was going to be an ordeal and expensive. You would therefore expect a rosy statement that was put through human resources and public relations so that it places the best possible spin on the situation. It would have probably said something like, “I have tremendously enjoyed my time at The Walt Disney Company and we have a truly great team in place. However, due to other opportunities in my life, I am unexpectedly being pulled in a different direction. I spoke with Bob about my thoughts and he has been gracious, as always, in working through the logistics of this change.” You get the idea.

But that’s not what happened. Instead, we get a terse statement that 1) identifies the time is brief, 2) identifies the conflict is clear, and 3) states there are multiple reasons (see: conflicts) that make this clear. That’s the kind of statement you expect when someone actually does quit.

Now let’s look at Bob Chapek’s response from later in the day:

Team-

I am writing to share the news that Geoff Morrell, our Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities. Fortunately, the strength and experience of our existing leadership team—including relatively new all-star hires—means there is no shortage of talent to guide our reputation-driving functions. With Geoff’s departure, I am pleased to share the following changes:

First, Kristina Schake will lead The Walt Disney Company’s communications efforts, serving as our Executive Vice President, Global Communications reporting directly to me. In this expanded role, Kristina will have oversight for corporate and segment communications and continue to be our chief spokesperson. Our business segment and content communications leads will continue to dual report to both division leadership and corporate communications, now led by Kristina.

We are incredibly fortunate to have Kristina with us at this important time. Her 30-plus years of experience includes roles leading President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine education program, communications for Instagram, and leadership positions in political campaigns and the Obama White House. Kristina has a strategic approach and collaborative style, as well as relentless optimism and a strong appreciation of our brand and its place in the world. These attributes will be invaluable as she works to protect and enhance our reputation, and I am thrilled to be working with her more closely.

Next, Government Relations and Global Public Policy will now be led by our General Counsel, Horacio Gutierrez. Since joining the company earlier this year, Horacio has integrated seamlessly into the Disney family, and has quickly become a valued advisor to me and the leadership team on a wide range of issues. His extensive experience leading these areas will be incredibly useful in driving our efforts.

In addition to his current direct reports, Susan Fox, Senior Vice President for Government Relations, and Yvonne Pei, Senior Vice President, External Relations, Greater China, will join Dorothy Attwood, Senior Vice President, Global Public Policy, in reporting directly to Horacio.

Finally, Jenny Cohen, Executive Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility, will now report solely to me in her role leading our CSR and ESG efforts. Jenny is a strong leader, and has done incredible work modernizing our approach in key areas like environmental sustainability, community investment, and philanthropy.

I am incredibly confident in this team, and look forward to working with them and all of our leadership to set Disney’s course for the next 100 years of extraordinary entertainment and experiences.

Again, none of this reads like a situation where someone agreed to resign under certain conditions the individual and the corporate would follow. Instead, the first paragraph emphasizes the idea that Morrell isn’t even needed, and Chapek says he’s pleased about the following changes. Unfortunately for the company, those changes are political hires brought in to help the company understand and navigate the backlash from the American left. That backlash just so happens to be far smaller than the backlash from the right at the moment… and that backlash is jeopardizing the company’s crown gem: Walt Disney World Resort. Kristina Schake doesn’t help you with that situation, she hurts you. Her effect on the Florida government is a net negative. Horacio Guierrez has no connections to Florida whatsoever… nor to China. That’s not the type of person you would fill in the Government Relations and Global Public Policy spot unless you needed to fill it immediately.

Finally, Chapek’s closing statement about “the next 100 years” desperately reads like someone wanting to assure the public that things are on course. But that could not be further from the truth. It also makes one wonder why he wouldn’t talk about the short-term… there’s a quarterly report on the way next week after all. Are we really needing to put the scope into century-terms in order to right this thing?

So while some may want to say that Morrell was fired, that doesn’t seem to be the case. This seems to be a huge loss to Disney leadership and one that Chapek is lashing out about. If you’ve ever worked at a large company, you know that things happen and even people closest to the action don’t really know what transpired behind closed doors. However, in this case, everything about the public statements and the people replacing Morrell would seem to indicate he truly did quit abruptly. If not, you’d expect to see well-written and friendly public releases followed by a singular individual who had been handpicked to take over (and politically neutral). You’d also expect the forced resignation to not occur until that person had been found and everything taken care of contractually. It’s possible that Morrell was secretly fired, but none of this situation reads like that.

For all the latest news that should be fun, keep checking out That Park Place! Let us know in the comments below what you think about all of this. Am I right or am I wrong in regards to Morrell?