New is out and old is back in at Disney with Bob Iger back as CEO, replacing Robert Chapek after two years.
“Filled with gratitude and excitement to be back @WaltDisneyCo!” wrote Iger on his personal Twitter account, adding a photo of the Disney Legend Plaza featuring Snow White’s seven dwarfs and three giant red ornaments.
On Monday, Iger’s first town hall before in-person and virtual employees touched on several topics: a hiring freeze executed by Chapek after a poor quarterly earnings report; Disney’s streaming portfolio; and the company’s stance on LGBTQ+ issues.
When asked where the studio stands on the subject, Iger said “one of the core values of our storytelling is inclusion, and acceptance and tolerance... We’re certainly not going to lessen our core values in order to make everyone happy all the time.”
This was a major change in direction after Chapek whose delayed response on sensitive topics like Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill came too little too late after employees staged a walk out in protest. It targets trans children and places limitations on discussions of the LGBTQ+ community in the classroom.
Robert Chapek: “I called Governor Desantis this morning to express our disappointment and concern that if legislation becomes law it could be used to unfairly target gay, lesbian, non-binary, and transgender kids and families.”
Chapek’s late statement seemed to be the nail in the coffin during his two-year run as CEO.
Now, Iger intends to remain as Disney’s CEO for the next two years. During his previous tenure, Iger was held as one of Disney’s most successful CEOs and in his own words, he noted that he wouldn’t have come back if he didn’t believe Disney’s future is bright.
For Annenberg Media, I’m Millicent Boakye.