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Bob Chapek was pretty mediocre at cutting costs and doing what Disney used to do: Make movies that appeal to the masses.
He was a fair amusement-park operator as far as that goes, while his streaming strategy was a work in progress.
But he definitely failed at trying to navigate the modern CEO’s burden: Politics and a woke workforce.
Chapek will be replaced by Bob Iger, who during his long and largely successful reign as Disney CEO certainly wasn’t some raging conservative. He institutionalized wokeism at the House of Mouse on everything from diversity mandates to climate issues to the content of its movies.
That gave him credence among elites in DC and the media, even if long-term progressive doctrines are a terrible business model for a company looking for mass appeal in a country as divided as ours. Recall: Chapek at least initially wanted to avoid commenting on the contentious Florida law that banned teaching sex-ed to children in kindergarten through third grade. It was unfairly dubbed the “don’t say gay law” by lefties, including Iger himself, who while in what looked like semi-retirement took to Twitter to bash the law, rally Disney’s progressive employees and force Chapek to reverse course.
Chapek walked into the right cross from GOP heavyweight champion Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida. DeSantis has since used Disney’s leftward lurch as fodder for his political ambitions.
