Disney employee Nicholas Maldonado holds a sign while protesting in front of Walt Disney World on March 22, 2022 in Orlando, Florida. Employees are staging a company-wide walkout today to protest Walt Disney Co.’s response to controversial Florida law known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Octavio Jones | News from Getty Images | Getty Images
Geoff Morrell, the chief corporate affairs officer who helped shape Disney’s public response to Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, has decided to leave the company.
“After three months in this new role, it’s become clear to me that she’s not the right cast for a number of reasons,” Morrell said in a letter to his team obtained by CNBC. “After we talked about it [Disney CEO] bob [Chapek]I have decided to leave the company to pursue other opportunities.”
Kristina Schake, who Disney hired earlier this month, will lead Disney’s communications activities and report directly to Chapek. Schake will “oversee corporate and segment communications and continue to be our primary spokesperson,” Chapek said in a note to Disney employees obtained by CNBC.
Morrell’s three-month tenure was rocky. He took over the job after years as chief spokesman for oil and energy giant BP. Previously, he was the White House Correspondent for ABC News and was the chief spokesman for the US Department of Defense under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
According to people who have worked with him, Morrell wanted to be more transparent in communicating with Disney than his predecessor, Zenia Mucha, who was known for fiercely protecting Disney’s image.
After taking the job on Jan. 24, Morrell led Disney and Chapek to explain publicly why it hadn’t publicly taken a stand on Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, which banned some elementary school classes on sexual orientation and gender identity excluded. Chapek wrote a letter to employees on March 7 explaining why Disney had not publicly issued a statement condemning the legislation.
“Corporate statements change very little outcome or opinion,” Chapek wrote. “Instead, they are often armed by one side or the other to further divide and inflame them.”
Morrell’s thinking was based on setting a precedent, according to people familiar with the matter. He feared that if Disney took a public stand against Don’t Say Gay, the company might also have to publicly address future human rights issues, including possible crime from China, a key market for Disney content. Morrell also feared that potential 2024 presidential nominees Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who lobbied for the bill, would use Disney as a punching bag if the company opposed the bill.
Morrell has been proven right in recent weeks after Disney quickly reversed its decision to remain silent amid large protests from Disney employees. Both Trump and DeSantis have come after Disney’s public challenge of don’t say gay. DeSantis signed a bill into law earlier this month that would remove certain privileges granted to Disney for decades regarding the land surrounding its Disney World theme park.
But by explaining Disney’s decision not to comment on Don’t Say Gay, rather than simply not taking a public position, Morrell’s strategy opened the company up to months of protests that could have been avoided. Disney employees have been holding strikes and running social media campaigns using the hashtag “FireChapek” after the company’s tentative response.
Disney’s brand is arguably its most important asset, and the company has largely avoided these kinds of public relations missteps in the past. Morrell appears to have taken the plunge over the past two months by announcing his immediate retirement.
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