Disney goes woke, now going broke | Eastern North Carolina Now

Liza Carlisle, writing at the Republic Brief reports:

Entertainment giant Disney has been a mainstay in the lives of Americans ever since Walt Disney launched his Disneyworld in California and produced The Wonderful World of Disney TV program, which glued American children to their TV sets on Sunday nights. But in later years, critics have pointed out the slow but perceptible change in programming from traditional to liberal, and sometimes even dark.

The trickle of those who have chosen not to make the once-revered family visit to the Disney-themed parks or subscribe to the Disney channel has enlarged to a notable flow, and the result of mainstream families’ choices is hitting the company in the pocketbook.

Disney’s head-to-head battle with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over parents’ rights in education did not enamor Florida parents toward the company. Some feel the company has overreached its influence. DeSantis and Disney also battled over land issues, and public support was with the governor rather than the previously loved company.

Disney is currently preparing for massive layoffs after it experienced over $1.4 billion in streaming losses and a stock drop of roughly 39% in 2022. According to a report by Tyler Durden, Disney has implemented a hiring freeze, has placed limits on employee travel, and it’s evaluating workers’ efficiency all in an effort to carry out cuts that are designed to make Disney “more nimble.”

In a leaked memo to Disney’s senior staff, Big League Politics reported that CEO Bob Chapek said the following:

“As we work through this evaluation process, we will look at every avenue of operations and labor to find savings, and we do anticipate some staff reductions as part of this review …I am fully aware this will be a difficult process for many of you and your teams. We are going to have to make tough and uncomfortable decisions.”

Earlier this year, the board of directors credited Chapek with steering the company through the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. Under his watch, Disney’s theme park division has posted record quarterly revenue and profit. But those statistics are dwindling.

Chapek has been controversial, and had also alienated people at the animation units of Disney, including Pixar, the Wall Street Journal reported. For instance, Chapek recently suggested in an interview that adults didn’t watch the company’s animation. Some in the animation team felt the remark demeaned the value of their content, which has been a staple of the company since its founding.

Even though Chapek’s announcement of his strategy to handle the massive financial losses, support for him has dwindled and the board felt a return to previous success was in order.

On Sunday night it was announced that there is a lack of confidence in Disney CEO Bob Chapek, and that former Disney chief for 15 years Robert Iger would be returning to the company as chief executive of Disney.

CNN reports that investors are thrilled to have Iger back at the helm. Disney’s shares ended Monday up more than 6% on a day that the Dow Jones was slightly down. Iger is also moving fast, already dismantling Chapek’s reorganization of the company within 24 hours of taking his old job back. Gien that the board only made its offer on Friday to Iger, the speed in which he has taken the helm is startling.

“It literally started on Friday and ended Sunday,” a person with knowledge of the matter told CNN> they added that Igor “felt a sense of obligation to go back because he really does care about the company.”

Will he care enough to reverse Disney’s content in a direction that goes back to conservative values?

Big League Politics observes:

In this memo, Chapek also called attention to the problem of “macroeconomic factors” that are outside of Disney’s control. While there may be validity to some of Chapek’s claims, it’s undeniable that Disney’s turn towards wokism has alienated much of its consumer base.

This was most notable when Disney got into it with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over his anti-grooming proposal for public schools. Disney took the L in this case as DeSantis’s legislation finally became law.

Companies that go woke must recognize that large portions of the country are not down with the cultural Left’s agenda. As a result, alienated consumers could withdraw their patronage en masse.

If there is one thing the Right can do that does not necessarily involve conventional politics, it’s using boycotts against companies that offend right-wing sensibilities and traditional values. The Right must get used to the idea of punishing institutions and individuals who pursue actions that undermine traditional values. Doing nothing only ensures that the cultural Left attains cultural and political hegemony.