Commentary
Disney CEO Bob Chapek has had a tough spring.
First, he upset a vocal portion of his workforce at Disney World by not publicly opposing Florida’s newly enacted (on March 29) “Parental Rights in Education Act.” (The opponents of this law term it the “Don’t Say Gay” law, because it forbids Florida public schools from teaching about such sensitive topics as sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.)
Then he caved to the outcry of those employees by not only stating that the Disney Company opposes the new law but also promising to spend millions of corporate dollars to lobby against such laws in other states. These pronouncements, in turn, drew major pushback from Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis, including the loss of tax breaks and other special privileges that Disney founder Walt Disney had procured for the company decades ago.