Kudos to That Park Place writers for finding this interview between Jon Stewart and former Disney CEO Bob Iger. Surprisingly, although the interview has had more than 400k views, it really hasn’t been discussed on your typical pop culture and entertainment news sites that I can tell. Yet it is fantastic in providing insight into the mind of Bob Iger and where he was taking The Walt Disney Company over his tenure.
If you have the time, watch the full interview, and then I’ll provide a bit of commentary below:
First, to contextualize this interview, it comes during a time when Mr. Iger likely thought he had damaged the current leadership at Disney. Mr. Iger is not on board with the pathway set forward by current CEO, Bob Chapek, as well as the Board of Directors headed by Susan Arnold. This is to such a degree that respectable business websites are reporting that Iger and Chapek have had the corporate version of a bad breakup… they rarely ever talk anymore.
Extremely Awkward: Bob Iger and Bob Chapek Had a Falling Out
After a purposeful tweet from Mr. Iger that was counter to the positioning of the Disney Company in regards to Florida legislation, there was some thought that company infighting was resulting in serious consternation for Disney executives. TWDC had to backtrack on its position, issue apologies, initiate task forces, make sweeping political changes, and take up official positions on contentious issues like sex change operations for children. Whether the reaction was out of line with the risk they faced is up to subjective argument, but clearly something made Chapek and the Board nervous enough that they felt a strong shift in action was necessary. Iger, at the time of this interview, did not know how this would play out… and that only about 250 employees total would participate in any meaningful way. Zero employees participated in a protest as was proscribed.
Now Robert Iger does not have to do any sorts of interviews. There’s no reason for him to put himself in a place where a mistake can occur. He is a gazillionaire with no need for interviews except when they might serve his purpose of the day. So one might conclude that in doing an interview with Jon Stewart at this time, Iger believed that 1) this would be friendly territory (i.e. safe interview) and 2) it would provide exposure to Iger to keep him in the public mind. Perhaps he thought this interview would help him be presented as a neutral sage who helped navigate Disney in a totally objective manner… even to the point that ABC News stayed straight down the line for thirty years under his tutelage.
Except that’s not the way this played out. As someone who has watched Bob Iger closely, there are some body language tells that he isn’t necessarily enjoying his time under the spotlight with Jon Stewart… specifically because he’s being forced off script, being forced to go deeper than talking points.
Mr. Iger should count himself very lucky, however. Stewart could have went for the jugular and asked about reporting on genocide inside China by ABC News (or lack thereof). He could have asked Iger about how ABC News killed stories on one famous billionaire with a penchant for illegal islands… especially a time in which ABC News reporting on such a story would have exposed to The Walt Disney Company to serious scrutiny. But Stewart kept those arrows in his quiver, likely because he wasn’t out for a scalp. Taking down Robert Iger wouldn’t earn Stewart points within Hollywood right now. Pressing him on a topic that Iger thought he could coast through isn’t out of bounds with the elites, though, and so the former Disney CEO was expending more mental energy than he probably wanted to.
Bob Iger Slams “Inaccuracy” In News In Jon Stewart Sit-down https://t.co/wpNHhp3luE
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) March 17, 2022
He also was forced into a corner where the talking points were wiped out and he had to start telling more of what he really thinks. Kudos to Jon Stewart on achieving that. In the beginning of the interview, the talking point message is that the news is mostly objective. By the end of the interview, Iger is admitting that Roger Ailles wanted to run ABC News at one point, he thinks Fox News (including their news division — not their commentary crew) is biased, other news is counter-programming with opposite bias (although he doesn’t name those specifically), and that all news has a degree of subjectivity involved. What a turnaround!
Of course, Bob Iger is a hyper-intelligent individual. He’s one of the most accomplished CEOs of all time. It’s just fun to watch a safe interview with talking points transition into having to be very careful as questions push him into revealing he knows how the news actually works. And for those of you who don’t know, corporate news functions to assist the corporation. Clearly. Why would it ever work in any other way?
So count this interview as another case of Bob Iger not being able to connect the punch with Chapek like he wanted to. It probably won’t be the last attempt, though. A bruised ego is not so easily soothed. And there’s no guarantee that Chapek can succeed in keeping the Iger-aligned creatives at bay in the Board’s quest to moderate the company. At least in this last round, nobody came out unscathed. That includes Iger for now.
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