It also came days after Disney had earned praise for being the first Hollywood studio to pause its theatrical releases in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. As the turmoil continued, Chapek today in another memo spoke directly to the company’s employees, this time striking a contrite tone and saying, “You needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down. I am sorry.”ĭisney’s maligned response to the Florida bill came two months into the tenure of the company’s new head of communications, Geoff Morrell, who also handled BP’s reaction to the deadly Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. ![]() The comments also did little to quell the internal mutiny. Just hours after Chapek told shareholders that Disney was donating to The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer civil rights organization rejected the donation, calling for a greater commitment to the LGBTQ+ agenda in yet another blow to Disney’s efforts to change the narrative after the miscalculated initial response. Greenberg publicly criticizing Disney over its response - many using the hashtags #dontsaygay and #disneydobetter - Chapek on Wednesday changed course and publicly condemned the Florida bill during the annual Disney shareholder meeting. With the controversy engulfing the company and Disney-affiliated talent like The Owl House creator Dana Terrace and former Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. “Nearly every moment of overtly gay affection is cut at Disney’s behest, regardless of when there is protest from both the creative teams and executive leadership at Pixar.” “We at Pixar have personally witnessed beautiful stories, full of diverse characters, come back from Disney corporate reviews shaved down to crumbs of what they once were,” one of the letter’s most talked about statements said. Multiple employees from various divisions tell Deadline the harsh picture painted in the letter is a truthful representation of how people there feel, and how LGBTQ+ content has been stifled for years at a company whose business is built largely on a foundation of family entertainment. During the company Zoom calls this week, sources said, staffer after staffer shared stories of systematic suppression of gay themes in Disney content, which they said had been either watered down or outright dismissed.Ī letter signed by “The LGBTQ+ employees of Pixar, and their allies,” which took Chapek to task over his response to the Florida bill, particularly resonated and was circulated within Disney, becoming an unofficial manifesto of the internal dissent. His comments were quickly rebuked by many associated with Disney productions. We must work together to ensure Disney always remains such a place,” Chapek wrote. ![]() ![]() ![]() “Powerful content that changes hearts and minds only springs from inclusive cultures, which not only attract and retain the best and most diverse talent, but also give those employees the freedom to bring forth ideas that reflect their lives and experiences. One element in Chapek’s March 7 memo that struck a chord was touting “all of our diverse stories” and listing a number of Disney movies and TV series, including several with LGBTQIA+ themes like Pose, Modern Family and Love, Victor. Some 800 people tuned in to one such meeting for LGBTQ+ staffers across the company from around the world Thursday, sharing experiences of alleged bad treatment and censorship, exposing a potential major issue in onscreen representation. Deadline has spoken with several people who had been at Disney for at least a decade who described this as “the worst week” they’ve ever had working at the company.Īccording to sources, employees expressed their disappointment in private conversations and in Zoom open forums held by several Disney divisions. What came next was a week of discontent, which released pent-up anger that had been simmering for a long time. 3' Tops $300M Global, Propelling Disney Across $2B WW So Far In 2023Īfter days of silence that had been met internally - in Chapek’s own words - with “disappointment that the company has not issued a public statement condemning the legislation,” the CEO finally spoke up about the bill on Monday, a week after Chapek’s predecessor Bob Iger had criticized the controversial legislation on Twitter, warning that it would “put vulnerable, young LGBTQ people in jeopardy.”Ĭhapek’s March 7 memo, in which he explained why Disney would not denounce the bill, despite being urged to do so by LGBTQ+ employees in at least one letter to the company leadership and in a meeting with Chapek the week before, sent chills throughout the company, with staffers calling it “tone deaf.”
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