Dissent Grows at Disney Over Perceived “Capitulation” to Trump as DEI Initiatives Diminished

Recent bends by Disney related to a court battle and diversity programs that appear to appease President Donald Trump and the MAGA crowd has left the home of the self-described happiest place on Earth not so joyful for some staff.

The moves at Disney come amid a hard push by the new Trump administration to end DEI initiatives. In addition to defunding and banning such programs in the federal government, there have been widespread actions by Trump and his team against media companies, including Trump’s now $20 billion lawsuit against CBS and the FCC launching an investigation into Comcast‘s policies to end “the scourge of DEI.”

“It’s like Chapek on steroids!” one Mouse House insider exclaimed, a nod to the “Don’t Say Gay” stumble in 2022 by Disney’s short term ex-CEO Bob Chapek, after the now Bob Iger-run media giant unveiled shifts this week in its much touted diversity, equity and inclusion programs. In a memo to global staff Tuesday, Disney HR chief Sonia Coleman asserted that the changes and other related moves were intended to line up with self-declared “business goals and company values.”

Though under discussion for almost a year internally, the latest in a perceived series of walk-backs by Disney under Trump 2.0 was a hard pill to swallow for many staffers across various divisions of the company. Calling the present state of diversity initiatives at Disney “uncertain,” the insider added: “What’s next? Where do we go from here? What do we stand for now, keeping MAGA happy?”

“This is not what I expected from Bob — I thought he had our back.”

Another well positioned individual cited “embarrassment” over the public apology and $15 million-plus Disney paid out late last year to Trump‘s presidential foundation and museum as part of a settlement reached in the then-president-elect’s defamation case against ABC and anchor George Stephanopoulos as “the beginning of the capitulation.” Along with the DEI giveaway, new disclaimers regarding what were once termed “negative depictions,” new compensation metrics and a rebranding of the under represented voices Reimagining Tomorrow program, several longtime employees referred to the December removal of a transgender storyline from Disney+’s upcoming Pixar series Win or Lose as shocking and “pandering to MAGA.”

There’s a strong consensus across a swath of Disney employees that the current Iger era is nothing like the last, when it seemed like the company and its leaders were comfortable taking a stance and sticking to it, contrarians be damned. In 2018, Iger was solidly behind then-ABC Entertainment boss Channing Dungey and her team in quickly cancelling the highly rated Roseanne revival after a series of racist tweets by Roseanne Barr. Iger seemed to shrug off a Twitter attack by Trump days later after the CEO called former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett to apologize for what Barr said about her. Now, many insiders have grown frustrated that Disney continues to try to win over conservatives rather than take a stand on almost anything — a stance not just affecting employees but also talent relationships, I hear.

Disney did not respond to request for comment on the dissent over its recent policy and content shifts. But if you talk with execs at the company they will insist that whatever moves Disney has made towards Trump and conservative consumers, it is is far less than what Amazon and Google have done in recent weeks.

Since taking office January 20, Trump has signed dozens of Executive Orders stripping DEI programs, trans rights and other equality measures from the federal government, its contractors and federally funded organizations. In addition to threatening to cutting funding for the likes of PBS or NPR and shutting down USAID, Trump seized control of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after lamenting drag shows were among the offerings in recent years at the prestigious federally funded arts organization, while Democrats appointed to the board of trustees were purged or, like Shonda Rhimes, resigned.

Add to that, the usually front-and-center Iger’s low-key presence Tuesday night at the Hollywood premiere of the somewhat politically charged Captain America: Brave New World further deepened the anxiety some inside Disney have felt since Trump’s return to the White House. Briefly on the red carpet with wife Willow Bay and a guest, Iger was seen later in the evening inside the TCL Chinese Theatre in an aisle seat before the screening of the Julius Onah-directed Marvel tentpole began.

Unusual for Iger, and unlike his December 20 appearance at the A Complete Unknown premiere at the Dolby Theatre, there are no photos of the CEO with Captain America lead Anthony Mackie, the cast or creatives last night.

Rebutting the implications of Iger staying out of sight in a sop to MAGA-land, a source close to events told Deadline that “there’s no there there, it was probably a matter of timing.”

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