In an interview at Disney HQ, the CEO addressed Elon Musk’s repeated complaints about Disney going “woke”—but also said that his company cares more about entertainment than making content with a message.
Bob Iger has a message for those criticizing Disney for being too “woke.” The Disney CEO sat for an interview at Disney HQ on Thursday and directly addressed high-profile critics including Elon Musk and Nelson Peltz about the direction in which he’s steering the entertainment behemoth. In the interview with CNBC reporter David Faber, Iger maintained that Disney is not primarily concerned with “infusing messaging” into its programming and that it remains “an entertainment-first company.”
Musk has taken it upon himself to wage a war against Iger’s vision of Disney. The X CEO has repeatedly called out Iger and Disney for being too “woke,” posting on April Fools’ Day that he was joining the company as its chief DEI officer. “Can’t wait to work with Bob Iger & Kathleen Kennedy to make their content MORE woke!” the mogul wrote. “Even the linguini.” (This, apparently, was Musk’s attempt at a funny joke.)
Iger certainly wasn’t laughing. “I ignore it,” Iger told Faber, of Musk’s pestering. “There’s no relevance to the Walt Disney Company or to me.”
While he’s not concerned with Musk’s comedic stylings, Iger did indirectly address Musk’s notion that Disney has been going “woke,” promising that the company’s focus is on entertainment rather than moralizing. “Infusing messaging as the sort of number one priority in our films and TV shows is not what we’re up to. They need to be entertaining,” said Iger. “And, look, where the Disney company can have a positive impact on the world—whether it’s fostering acceptance and understanding of people of all different types—great. But, generally speaking, we need to be an entertainment-first company, and I’ve worked really hard to do that.”
Musk is not the only billionaire taking shots at Iger. Peltz, who runs the multibillion-dollar hedge fund Trian Partners, recently lost a proxy war for control of the Disney board, with the firm spending about $25 million in its failed attempt to oust Iger, according to The New York Times. (Disney reportedly spent as much as $40 million in its successful countercampaign.) Musk pledged his support for Peltz on X, posting on April 3 that “Nelson Peltz should definitely be on the Disney Board!” and that the 81-year-old “would help reform the company” and “significantly improve Disney’s share price.”
As for Peltz, Iger called their proxy war “distracting” and maintained that it was “absolutely not” helpful for the company. Despite the protestations of Musk and Peltz, he claimed that “the noise” pertaining to Disney and its purported “woke” pivot “has sort of quieted down,” and maintained that the word itself is starting to lose meaning, becoming a catchall for his detractors. “The term woke is thrown around rather liberally,” Iger said. “I think a lot of people don’t really understand what it means.” Musk certainly doesn’t.
(Source: Vanity Fair)
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