Bob Chapek's response to Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' bill

[Tony the Tigger]

In this situation, it would more than likely go to guidance and be handled in that setting, along with the parents.

Schools exist as a sort of informal agreement among parents to have their kids educated in a cost-effective way. There is never going to be perfect consensus among all parents on how exactly to accomplish this, but I'd wager that the vast majority would prefer to decide for themselves when & how to approach sensitive topics with their children.

That's problematic for me.

A kid talking about their mom and dad is fine, but a kid talking about mom and mom goes to the guidance counselor?

No. Can't abide singling that kid out and making them feel like their family should not be spoken about. That's cruel and pointless.

Again, if these parents can't handle their kids simply knowing the truth about gay families, then they should pony up and put their kids in private schools where their beliefs are taught.

I think this bill just took on a life of its own for various reasons. But I would actually say sex/gender issues place a distant 3rd in the list of concerns among the parent groups (masking/vaccines being #1, and CRT being #2).

And that shows you how rational and informed this group are.

 

[Disney Analyst]

That's problematic for me.

A kid talking about their mom and dad is fine, but a kid talking about mom and mom goes to the guidance counselor?

No. Can't abide singling that kid out and making them feel like their family should not be spoken about. That's cruel and pointless.

Again, if these parents can't handle their kids simply knowing the truth about gay families, then they should pony up and put their kids in private schools where their beliefs are taught.

And that shows you how rational and informed this group are.

Also shows where the priorities are. Several actual issues Florida could focus on.

 

[monothingie]

Seems like the overwhelming majority of the “walkouts” were in California. Possibly by employees affected by mandatory job relocations to Florida. Perhaps this “walkout” was more of a reaction to that than anything else?

Typically with these things it doesn’t just center around a single company. While Disney is certainly at the top of the list of notable companies that do business in Florida, there are many others and it’s been relatively quiet on that end. Strange too, that given the media sensationalism about this, the response was quite underwhelming. And now it disappears…

 

[ohioguy]

Too little, too late. All Disney needed to do was turn off the spigot of money to Florida's Republican political campaigns, and the legislation would have been tabled.

 

[SirLink]

Too little, too late. All Disney needed to do was turn off the spigot of money to Florida's Republican political campaigns, and the legislation would have been tabled.

Legislation came after funding, if they turn it off for Republicans then they need to stop supporting Democrats political campaigns as well

 

[Lilofan]

Legislation came after funding, if they turn it off for Republicans then they need to stop supporting Democrats political campaigns as well

CEO advised there would be a pause for funding for both parties I believe but reality is corporations and officials are in bed with each other, I help you, you help me.

 

[SirLink]

CEO advised there would be a pause for funding for both parties I believe but reality is corporations and officials are in bed with each other, I help you, you help me.

I responded to the user who seemed to think the legislation came before funding.

 

[willf]

You'd think with a company as big as Disney their PR department would have a rapid response team.
IMHO quite a bit of this is Chapek's foot in mouth disease on several issues including cutting portion sizes due to due to waist sizes, the ever not popular park reservation system, Genie and LL, the loss of DME, entertainment cuts and not just the ones since 2020. None of those responses has been spun in a positive way with at least a bit of lip service to guest enjoyment. Starting with food and waists he could have said something about cutting down on food waste.

Zenia’s gone, maybe whoever replaced her isn’t quite as capable.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

This is from New Jersey.

As a resident of New Jersey, I can firmly say that we firmly discourage reproduction in this state. Does the world really need more people from New Jersey circulating around the globe?

Florida should have adopted that standard…like…yesterday

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Disney saying something now is just more of an obtuse/bad look. Typical

You wait what’s essentially a month and it looks like you had your lawyers dig through regs and your numbers people do focus groups.

Disney - like if or not - runs with a public image of knowing what’s “right from wrong” and not pushing anyone away. That’s their “brand”.

They’ve just beaten this up with a sledgehammer and continue to do so.

 

[monothingie]

You wait what’s essentially a month and it looks like you had your lawyered dig through regs and your numbers people fo focus groups.

Except that despite the widespread and intentional mislabeling of the bill by mainstream media and on social media, established polling suggests that Disney’s reaction is on the wrong side of public opinion.

Disney seems to have forgotten that people in flyover country still take vacations and watch movies and subscribe to streaming services.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Except that despite the widespread and intentional mislabeling of the bill by mainstream media and on social media, established polling suggests that Disney’s reaction is on the wrong side of public opinion.

Disney seems to have forgotten that people in flyover country still take vacations and watch movies and subscribe to streaming services.

Dude…who says the frothers are right? You been sleeping these last few years?

There’s very little “ambiguity in choice” here…

They should have “denounced” it immediately and then said nothing more. And went about as usual. That was the obvious political play for Disney in the climate they are in.

They don’t want to give credence to the “takeover of schools” movement…this isn’t hard…I’m not looking to debate it blow for blow however. So you get it over with and move on

 

[lazyboy97o]

Except that despite the widespread and intentional mislabeling of the bill by mainstream media and on social media, established polling suggests that Disney’s reaction is on the wrong side of public opinion.

Disney seems to have forgotten that people in flyover country still take vacations and watch movies and subscribe to streaming services.

It’s weird how people keep insisting that the authors and sponsors are clueless about their own work. That alone should be a reason not to support any politician.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It’s weird how people keep insisting that the authors and sponsors are clueless about their own work. That alone should be a reason not to support any politician.

One of the buffoons sponsoring this thing slipped up and spoke the truth in Tallahassee…

So how exactly could Disney “support” that based on polling samples in the “flyover states”?

They have no choice.

And I wouldn’t have to remind thingie where the bulk of the money comes from…

 

[monothingie]

And I wouldn’t have to remind thingie where the bulk of the money come from…

The real money comes from Institutional investors, and they only care about profitability not politics. If politics mattered more, where would a company like Exxon Mobil be?

Maybe it's what dinner party or social circle you get invited to participate in that's more important. We know Iger for example had an ego to match his ambitions, so his social circle was critical to him above most everything else.

 

[monothingie]

It’s weird how people keep insisting that the authors and sponsors are clueless about their own work. That alone should be a reason not to support any politician.

Honestly that doesn't matter.

The polling says the more people support the bill than oppose and that's a problem for Disney. If you're framing your viewpoint based on the low single digit percentage of the population that live on the sewer that is Twitter, you're probably doing it wrong.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Honestly that doesn't matter.

The polling says the more people support the bill than oppose and that's a problem for Disney. If you're framing your viewpoint based on the low single digit percentage of the population that live on the sewer that is Twitter, you're probably doing it wrong.

Who said anything about Twitter. The intent of legislators is very important. Clearly people don’t really support what they say because they keep trying to downplay, dismiss and outright ignore these open, public statements instead of owning them and embracing them.

If they aim to do one thing but somehow do something different that is a serious issue. What other legislation is coming out completely different from their intent?

 

[Joesixtoe]

I don't think you meant this to sound the way it jumps off the page at me. I'll explain:

1. There is no such thing as "the LGBTQ+ lifestyle." Once folks become informed, if they want to be respectful, they don't use that term. You can have a lifestyle of the rich and famous, you can have a rockstar lifestyle, you can have a healthy lifestyle, a promiscuous lifestyle, and a religious lifestyle.

Any heterosexual or homosexual person can have any of those lifestyles and more. Gay people are as varied as their straight counterparts. There is no homogenous, monolithic "homosexual lifestyle." It doesn't exist. It's an old-fashioned term that was always incorrect.

2. "other" moral issues.

Homosexuality is not a moral issue. It is a statistical minority variation of birth, just like left-handedness and red hair (which also had a history of being misunderstood, btw.) Moral issues require choice. There is no choice. You are born gay or you are not.



Correct. And discrimination based on sexual orientation is immoral.

Your response is of one side of the issue. There is the other that is of the opposite thought. Both sides claim the moral high ground and both won't or can't budge on their thinking, so what do you do? Tough times is where we live in.

 

[monothingie]

What other legislation is coming out completely different from their intent?

Who judges the intent of the lawmakers actions? As we've seen with numerous pieces of "controversial" legislation from state to federal often the intent of the authors radically differs from the actual result of implementation. Legislation like this rarely is 1+1=2. Pick any widely publicized law like a say The ACA (Obama Care) and hold it to the same standards you are holding this to with regards to intent.

 

[crawale]

Not a single person here is advocating what you suggest. Please read the entire thread.

Then there should be no objection to the bill. I for one do not think children of eight or under should be taught about sex in schools. The bill is intended to prevent this. If it pre-empts schools adding it to the curriculum then that is the intention. It is not an anti gay bill. Perhaps the Disney employees who object to this do not understand what the bill is for. They are perfectly entitled to 'educating' their children on the sex practices they think appropriate. I find it disgusting that Disney does not support parents' rights to teach their children about sex at whatever age they - the parents - deem appropriate. School is to teach reading and math. If a child has 2 mommies or 2 daddies then children of this age just accept it without explanation or can ask their parents if they are curious.