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 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.”

Others noted that pro-Palestinian protesters on Hollywood Boulevard objecting to the inclusion of the Shira Haas-portrayed Israeli-born superhero Sabra in Brave New World may have contributed to Iger’s blink-and-you’d-miss him time on the red carpet, while the very public dinner last month at hotspot Craig’s between ex-VP Kamala Harris and Disney Entertainment co-chair (and possible Iger successor) Dana Walden, who are old pals, may signal Disney’s isn’t waiving the white flag yet.

Still, while Marvel boss Kevin Feige and Disney Entertainment co-chair Alan Bergman were seen making the rounds during Captain America: Brave New World‘s two-theater opening, any mention of the implications of the mercurial POTUS played in the movie by Harrison Ford in Brave New World was kept off the agenda.

“Can you imagine Trump’s reaction to Red Hulk?” one attendee told Deadline of the rage-filled creature Ford’s President Thaddeus Ross transforms into. “He’d either hate it or tweet about it, or both,” the attendee snickered.

Mackie’s backtracking after saying Captain America representing something larger than his namesake country came even though it’s a line Marvel and ex-Cap Chris Evans has parroted about that superhero for more than a decade.

Outrage erupted among right-wing pundits and politicians earlier this year when Mackie, during a press event, said “Captain America represents a lot of different things, and I don’t think the term ‘America’ should be one of those representations.” With his patriotism questioned and concerns Brave New World‘s big box office might be in peril, the actor issued a clarification. “Let me be clear about this, I’m a proud American, and taking on the shield of a hero like Cap is the honor of a lifetime,” Mackie wrote on his Instagram feed.

Long before Trump’s return to office, Disney has been damned if they do by the right-wing press, and damned if they don’t by more Democratic factions when practicing diversity initiatives.

While the Chapek-run Disney eventually objected to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” bill and later law, the Iger-run company saw the writing on the courthouse wall. After some fireworks and court hearings, Disney resolved the feud last June and signed a $17 billion multi-decade expansion deal for Walt Disney World and elsewhere in the Sunshine State.

As much as Disney has been hammered by right wing media, it has progressed slowly in regards to the depiction of the LGBTQ+ community in movies such as Lightyear and the Lena Waithe-voiced Specter in 2020’s Onward. On the other hand, Disney’s bottom line at the box office hit blockbuster heights with Black Pantherthe first largely all-Black superhero franchise. Animated movies such as Coco and Charmaimed largely at Hispanic/Latino moviegoers, also did huge business.

Other plays for diversity haven’t always gone well.

In October, Jodie Turner-Smith called the company out for remaining silent when the stars of The Acolyte were subject to racist vitriol online, only to see Disney cancel the series shortly after it premiered.

Fronted by a Black lead actress, The Little Mermaid resulted in an offshore box office that wasn’t as prominent as other Disney live-action movies based on its classic toons. Additionally Little Mermaid was subject to review bombing in France, Korea, Germany and beyond.

With the recent retreats by Disney since Trump’s reelection, two other potential MAGA minefields are coming Disney’s way later this year.

There’s the March 21 opening of the company’s long-awaited live-action reboot of its 1937 animated classic Snow White starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot. Soon after Trump’s November election win, Zegler posted a now deleted post declaring “f*ck Donald Trump” and “May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace.” As the Megyn Kelly-spurred on backlash grew, Zegler put out an apology in mid-November, saying she “let my emotions get the best of me.” Still, don’t be surprised if the former Celebrity Apprentice host pounds on Zegler’s initial statement closer to the Snow White debut.

Snow White is currently expected to open at $63M-$70M at the domestic box office, at the lower end of how Disney live-action fairy-tale movies typically fare.

Even closer to Trumpland and perhaps more fraught for Disney, former The Mandalorian star Gina Carano‘s trial against the House of Mouse for her 2021 firing from the Star Wars TV series starts September 29. With no indication of a settlement at hand, the former mixed martial artist’s sex-discrimination and wrongful-dismissal lawsuit is being backed and paid for by Elon Musk. Unsuccessful in its attempts to get the matter dismissed, Disney and its Daniel Petrocelli-led legal team continue to insist that Carano lost her high-profile job because of her decision “to publicly trivialize the Holocaust by comparing criticism of political conservatives to the annihilation of millions of Jewish people — notably, not ‘thousands’ — was the final straw for Disney.”

A star in MAGA circles, Carano has claimed she was not trivializing the Holocaust, that she has a right to express her opinions like co-stars Pedro Pascal and Mark Hamill did, and that she was being forced to apologize for things she never did or said. The trial is sure to bring a lot of internal Disney correspondence and material into the public — material that will surely attract Disney critics.

Katie Campione and Anthony D’Alessandro contributed to this report.