Just days after Disney CEO Bob Chapek apologized and surrendered to their demands, the company’s LGBTQ employees are taking advantage of his display of weakness by staging walkouts and demanding even more political concessions.
We’ve seen this movie before. The Walt Disney Co.’s top executive chose to be Joe Rogan, not Dave Chappelle, and it’s safe to say he chose poorly. Rogan bowed to the woke mob and the result was more calls for his head. Chappelle refused to apologize and the result was four new Netflix comedy specials.
In politics as in business, weakness invites aggression, while strength is the best guarantee for peace and prosperity.
Chapek’s surrender concerning Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill has predictably worsened his own predicament. On one side, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) slammed Disney for its performative wokeness, noting the irony of a company that caters to families taking a position against a bill that is designed to protect young children from sexual and gender ideology.
Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Bob Chapek speaks during a ceremony at the Hong Kong Disneyland, as he celebrates the Hong Kong Disneyland’s 10th anniversary. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
On the other side, Disney’s own employees have taken Chapek’s white flag as a cue to double down on their far-left activism. In a slap to the face of management, they said the company’s repudiation of the Florida bill “has utterly failed,” demanding Disney take a harder line against Republican politicians who backed the legislation.
The list of demands, which was posted on the newly created Twitter account @DisneyWalkout, includes cutting off political donations to all Florida politicians who backed the bill, which has been smeared by bad-faith activists as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. They are also demanding Disney do more to uplift “marginalized voices” in an “intersectional way.”
Employee walkouts are expected to take place during the next seven days. The walkouts are set to take place daily from 3 p.m. to 3:15 p.m., through Monday. Organizers are planing a “full-scale” employee walkout for Tuesday.
Bob Chapek initially refused to get Disney involved in the political debate surrounding the Florida bill, marking what seemed at the time like a departure from the left-wing politics of his predecessor, Bob Iger.
“As we have seen time and again, corporate statements do very little to change outcomes or minds,” Chapek said in a recent internal memo “Instead, they are often weaponized by one side or the other to further divide and inflame. Simply put, they can be counterproductive and undermine more effective ways to achieve change.”
But a Disney boycott campaign followed by an internal uproar from LGBTQ employees caused Chapek to cave in a matter of days.
“You needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down. I am sorry,” Chapek said in a groveling memo to Disney staffers.
Similar tactics were used against Spotify to pressure the audio streaming company to cut ties with Joe Rogan, and Netflix during the Dave Chappelle transgender controversy.
Spotify and Rogan took a knee before the cancel mob, which only invited more attacks. Netflix stood by Chappelle, who has repeatedly refused to apologize the LGBTQ mob for his transgender jokes. Last month, Netflix announced four new comedy specials executive produced and hosted by Chappelle — an uncommon show of Hollywood resistance against the rising woke tide.
Disney’s Bob Chapek could have saved himself a lot of time and headache by simply quoting Dave Chappelle’s response to the trans mob: “I said what I said.” End of discussion.
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