Former Disney CEO Bob Iger is doubling down against Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law — even as his successor, Bob Chapek, continues to take heat over his ham-fisted response to the legislation.
“A lot of these issues are not necessarily political. It’s about right and wrong,” Iger told CNN’s Chris Wallace in an interview that was taped last month. “So I happened to feel, and I tweeted an opinion about the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill in Florida. It seemed potentially harmful to kids.”
In the interview, Iger talked of going public on issues like climate change and immigration during his 15-year tenure as CEO of the Mouse House, which ended when he stepped down in February 2020, handing the reins to Chapek.
“I had to contend with this a lot, and the filter that I used to determine whether we should or should not weigh in considered a few factors,” Iger said. “What would its impact have on our employees, on our shareholders and our customers?
“And if any one of those three constituencies had a deep interest in or would be affected by whatever was the matter at hand, then it was something I thought we should consider weighing in on.”
Wallace pressed Iger on whether he was concerned that “whether it’s right or wrong,” he was “going to tick off people, whether it is on climate change or immigration or gender identity. There are going to be people who aren’t going to like what [you] are saying and maybe that means fewer people will come to the theme park.”
“We never really saw...
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