Abigail Disney's Twitter thread on Executive pay and furloughing Cast Members during COVID-19

[danv3]

Her comments are ridiculous. Most CMs are not working. Neither Disney nor any other company has an obligation to pay people who aren't working. That Disney did so for weeks, and is keeping health insurance in place (for free), is to Disney's great credit.

And why shouldn't execs have gotten bonuses, and shareholders dividends, for last year, before anyone knew what the coronavirus was?

 

[danv3]

Why are senior executives not giving up their stock options if they are receiving compensation cuts? Are stock options not a form of compensation?

Any stock options granted in the last five years are underwater, and if granted in the last year, tremendously underwater. Giving those options up wouldn't help employees in any way. Letting the execs keep these options provides a strong motivation to the execs to be a part of turning things around.

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

Honesty. When executives like Bob or Bob C say they are giving up all or part of their pay, that has to include stock options since they derive so much of their income from them.

Isn’t Iger the largest individual Disney stock holder?

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Came for the predicable outrage and name calling for her having an opinion at all.

Was not disappointed.

 

[Tinkwings]

Honestly, every time I see her name in the headlines it always seems to have the F bomb in the title..... She like everyone is welcome to an opinion, but think she is looking for more than attention?

 

[Getachew]

Came for the predicable outrage and name calling for her having an opinion at all.

Was not disappointed.

Complete with the usual complaints about the "left wing".

 

[drizgirl]

Came for the predicable outrage and name calling for her having an opinion at all.

Was not disappointed.

The outrage is over the hypocrisy of her criticizing the trough she feeds at.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

The outrage is over the hypocrisy of her criticizing the trough she feeds at.

Pretty sure it's both unrealistic and unprecedented for anyone with the Disney name to never criticize some aspect or someone in the company.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Even if she had said something more mundane or apolitical like "Galaxy's Edge is lame" she would still be raked over the coals on this site.

 

[drizgirl]

Pretty sure it's both unrealistic and unprecedented for anyone with the Disney name to never criticize some aspect or someone in the company.

Probably not if they're criticizing the largesse from which they have benefited.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Isn’t Iger the largest individual Disney stock holder?

No.
It’s Lauerene Powell Jobs at 3.5%.
The Murdoch brood own a good percentage as a group.
George Lucas owns 2%.
Ike Perlmutter and Michael Eisner each own 1.something%.
Roy E Disney’s Family owns 1% through Shamrock Holdings.

 

[Obobru]

Why doesn't she just sell her stock and donate the funds to the cast members. She has lived her entire life off of The Walt Disney Company's profits. It is so hypocritical of her to complain what management makes today compared to what Walt and Roy made.

She doesn't own hardly any stock her father's company Shamrock sold most of it after the Save Disney campaign and invested it in other businesses. The company is was founded by her great uncles so she can say what she wants and she's generally right. I would guess of the Disney family did still own stock she would be a very vocal shareholder too.

 

[Bill in Atlanta]

Honestly, every time I see her name in the headlines it always seems to have the F bomb in the title..... She like everyone is welcome to an opinion, but think she is looking for more than attention?

Yup. Anyone who leads off their statement with "WHAT THE ACTUAL F---?????" is operating with emotions, not reason.

Reason tells you that it's not sustainable for workers of any company to be paid while not working.

Reason tells you that the amount of money any company offers to pay a given employee is directly proportional to the value that employee brings to the company.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Compensation for all high level corporate people is out of control, especially since they all sit on one another's boards approving greater and greater compensation. Someone screaming about it on a 25-Tweet rant (the purpose of a Tweet is to be terse) doesn't change the fact it's a rigged system for the elite.

In the time of sacrifice of employee's compensation while leaving alone the extra bonuses in the millions that the top echelon will be receiving, all the while publicly announcing pay cuts for the upper echelon which hardly affects their total yearly compensation is a bit scummy. An ad hominem attack on the person bringing that up doesn't change the scumminess of it.

Remember, I'm supposedly an Iger apologist according to a recent poster!

 

[Giss Neric]

Having no idea who she is, I was expecting her to be "defending" especially with Disney in her name.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Abigail Disney when ever she speaks out about Disney nowadays, knowing she's not that beloved in the Disney Family and the Disney community as a whole.

With how critical she is of them - and often rightly - I don't believe her aim is to be beloved.

Though really, given how much she speaks out in defense of the "people it takes to make the dream a reality", who her great-uncle and grandfather generally made a point of taking care of, I'm surprised how little appreciation the community seems to have for her stance.

 

[Andrew C]

With how critical she is of them - and often rightly - I don't believe her aim is to be beloved.

Though really, given how much she speaks out in defense of the "people it takes to make the dream a reality", who her great-uncle and grandfather generally made a point of taking care of, I'm surprised how little appreciation the community seems to have for her stance.

She is an activist...and to many, it seems she comes across annoying activist who is hard to take seriously.

 

[ScoutN]

Any thread with her name popping up absolutely amuses me. The attacks on her personally and not the message she is delivering speaks higher volumes to her point than she herself can.

Meanwhile, CMs make the magic, right? Why look out for them, right? I mean the brass heads at the top are the ones we allllll know actually make the magic and help granny Betty Mae, Betty Sue and Johnny Joe on and off of all the rides, right? Ashley standing with Sheriff Woody is just collateral, she should have just gotten a better education, right?

How we go from OMG CMs make the magic and OMG CMs are the best to "LoLzOLOLZololZ this isn't the most popular Disney left" is hysterical.

 

[co10064]

As far as I'm concerned, she and the rest of her family lost all say once the company got taken public.

 

[Magenta Panther]

If twitty Abigail slandered Walt in order to please her right-wing friends, she'd get the same hammering from me. She lies, period, and it's not just lying, it's stupid lying. She said the original animated "Jungle Book" was racist because "it's about knowing your place in the world and staying there". The actual fuh??? What kind of mind comes up with that?

And I'm the last person to defend the ridiculous pay scales people like Iger get. He makes more in a year than Walt saw his entire life. It's disgusting. I realize that things have changed a great deal since CEOs like Walt existed, but it's still disgusting. As for CMs, I have often noted here on these boards that CMs deserve more pay and more credit. They hold the parks together. They make them more accessible, more enjoyable, and more memorable. So yeah, they should be taken care of. They deserve more than they get. DUH. That could be said of many in the service sector. So yeah, good for Abigail for stating the obvious. That's not objectionable. It's her foul-mouthed longwinded bombast and her "ooh, look at me, I'm criticizing my family and the Disney company, aren't I a saint?" attitude that's objectionable. Her condescension towards Walt ("Of course he was a misogynist, anti-Semite and racist. I guess I can forgive him...") makes me want to hurl. Again, nuts to her.