With many of its LGBTQ+ employees bracing for an all-day strike Tuesday, Disney has decided to postpone a management retreat until next week as the company continues efforts to calm internal waters.
News of the postponement came as Disney CEO Bob Chapek held a town hall meeting for all employees on Monday. The manager continues to seek to put the company on a more stable footing after his response to Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law met with backlash internally and within influential circles in the talent community. All three of the company’s major content suppliers — Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm — have publicly criticized the company’s handling of the situation.
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During the town hall, Chapek reiterated his expression of regret at the company’s decision not to publicly oppose the law given the large number of its employees affected. According to one attendee, Chapek acknowledged that Disney’s silence wasn’t just about Florida. He agreed that the company should be more involved with the LGBTQ+ community to seek more meaningful and lasting change.
The Parents’ Rights in Education Act has passed the Florida Legislature and is awaiting the signature of Gov. Ron DeSantis. Dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by opponents, the law prohibits discussion or teaching about the LGBTQ+ community and “sexual orientation or gender identity” in the state’s public school system from kindergarten through third grade.
Earlier this month, in an email to staff, Chapek apologized for “abandoning you” by no longer standing up for the LGBTQ+ community. The email came two days after the company’s annual shareholder meeting, at which Chapek explained that the company had long opposed Florida law but chose to work behind the scenes rather than make a public statement. The week-long mess also drew criticism from the right, as Fox News picked up on the DeSantis administration’s portrayal of it as “woke Disney” and trying to get the state to change its behavior.
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Bob Iger, the former Disney CEO whose decade-long tenure at the company ended in December, tweeted his opposition to the legislation weeks ago. Chapek is far less publicly political than his predecessor, who once considered running for the Democratic presidential nomination.
All Disney employees were invited to City Hall this morning, which Deadline said was part of an ongoing series of talks beginning in 2020. It fitted into the larger corporate campaign called “Reimagine Tomorrow,” which aims to emphasize Disney’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. The original town hall event was announced on March 2nd and then postponed from Friday to today so that people could join the strike on Tuesday if they so wished.
Instead of the management retreat, the management of the media company should go on a listening tour with employees, according to a person familiar with the strategy. A growing number of those attending the retreat expressed reluctance to move forward given the climate at the company. At another point in City Hall, the company’s HR chief addressed the situation in Florida, also assuring that the company would resist an effort by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on another front. Abbott issued an order, blocked by a state judge, to have parents investigated for possible child molestation charges if their transgender children are given hormone blockers.
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In addition to pledging to bring in an outside consultant to guide the company’s efforts, Chapek is also assembling a company-wide task force led by Studio’s SVP Global Communications Paul Roeder and Disney Parks Marketing Director Lisa Becket. The task force will develop strategies and action plans to work with LGBTQ+ staff, community partners and content creators.
A roundtable of eight Disney employees representing many aspects of the LGBTQ+ community also shared their perspectives during town hall. The event concluded with a fireside chat by Equality Florida’s Nadine Smith and Disney’s Chief Diversity Officer, Latondra Newton. Chapek ended the session and thanked all participants.
Chapek is in the third year of a three-year deal as CEO, which expires in February. Despite the acrimony this month — and a rare public clash last summer with an A-list star, Scarlett Johansson — the company has rebounded from the depths of the pandemic, releasing stellar financial results in February for its most recent quarter. The Florida bill has yet to make investors’ minds, even though the company’s stock is near a 52-week low. It closed today’s trade at $138.62, down 1%.