DeSantis’s Disney oversight board ‘a combustible mix’ of culture warriors: Expert

February 28, 2023 at 5:02 PM

Richard Fogelsong, Disney Historian and “Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando” Author, joins Yahoo Finance Live to examine Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' new tourism oversight board, how appointed members clash with Disney's corporate and employee culture, and CEO Bob Iger's content outlook.

Video Transcript

- Let's turn now to Disney. Here's a quote for you. Today, the corporate kingdom comes to an end. That's what Florida governor Ron Desantis said about a new state law giving his hand-picked board control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District. That's the body that gives Disney unique authority and has for several decades. Richard Foglesong is the author of Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando. Also with us today is Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal. All right. Good to see you, Richard. What is the impact of that new Florida law on Disney?

RICHARD FOGLESONG: Yeah. Well, I think the good governor overstated the case. A year ago in the summer, when this came before the state legislature, he spoke of disillusion as the only solution to the powers that had been granted to the Disney Company. Well, it wasn't dissolved. Their special purpose government was not dissolved. It had special powers, and it still has those powers. Maybe they will do yet what he said they would do.

I think the good question now is what will be the impact of the new board that he appointed. Instead of having a board of supervisors for this thing called the Reedy Creek Improvement District appointed by the landowner, which is the Disney Company, now we have a five-member board of supervisors that consists principally of cultural warrior types, Christian nationalist types, like the good governor himself.

ALLIE CANAL: All right, Richard. So let's pick up on that board. What do you make of that, and how could it potentially impact Disney?

RICHARD FOGLESONG: Well, I think there is an issue here. The Disney Company is the major manufacturer of culture in the United States. And when you have people appointed to a board who can appropriately, fairly, by their own description, be called cultural warriors and Christian nationalists. At least one of whom, Moms for Liberty, who's concerned about whether the wrong books are being offered in school libraries, I think that's a combustible mix of culture manufacturers and people who want to regulate what books may be offered in public schools.

ALLIE CANAL: So you think that this whole bill could impact Disney on a cultural level, but in terms of the day to day operations, we will likely not see too much impact?

RICHARD FOGLESONG: No. I don't think we'll see a lot of change day to day, but you've got folks who are different here now running the company. Before, the board of supervisors, the people who work for the Reedy Creek Improvement District and the top executives at the Disney Company at Disney World, I should say, they literally wore the same nametags. A Mickey Mouse nametag. I don't see that happening anymore. I don't see them being part of the same team.

And the question that arises then is whether they will use their separate authority, the board and the top executives, as a way to leverage the other party. I could imagine the board of supervisors wanting to do that, and I could imagine Disney resisting that as well. We'll see whether that occurs.

- Yeah. It's interesting. Now we reached out to Disney for comment. They did not say a word. And it has been interesting, Richard, that they haven't really said a word since Bob Iger returned. It seems at least on the outside, that they think they can ignore this problem, and Ron Desantis will move on to other things and run for president.

Speaking of Bob Iger, what's your interpretation? What's your reaction to his reorganization, how he'll put ESPN on a silo? And will ESPN remain a part of Disney in the long run?

RICHARD FOGLESONG: Yeah. I think Bob Iger is good for the company, and I always have. I worry a bit whether he may have too much confidence in his own charm, here dealing with a good governor. This governor is serious about what he proposes. He's brought a new program of cultural warfare to the republican party, and he's willing to address or trample on the free speech rights of major corporations in America.

Look. American corporations, as you well know from your beat, they are woke. That's apparent in their corporate advertising, whether it comes to multiracial couples, gay families, and whatnot, as depicted in corporate advertising. And I can't imagine that major corporations engaged in that kind of advertising are going to look with favor on a presidential candidate who was willing, at least in the case of the Disney Company, to trample on their free speech rights. That's going to be an issue. I think it's going to be an issue for the Republican Party.

ALLIE CANAL: So Richard, given all the issues that Disney has faced, both internally and externally, how critical do you think it was for Bob Iger to return to the company as CEO? And what should that succession strategy look like after he's supposed to leave in two years?

RICHARD FOGLESONG: Yeah. The other Bob, Chapek, wasn't getting the job done and took some wrong steps with the governor of Florida here. But what we have to remember when we talk about this issue of wokeness, I have a good friend, an AP reporter, who's coming out with a book on costume characters at Disney and the way in which they're treated both by the labor union there and by the company.

And Disney has a lot of gay employees. And there was those gay employees who pushed Bob Chapek to talk back to Governor Desantis. Now that issue is not going to go away. So how is Bob Iger going to be able to keep his costume character employees happy at Disney World and at the same time, maintain good relations with the governor of Florida?

- Just one of dozens of challenges ahead, including succession for Bob Iger. Richard Foglesong and Allie Canal, thank you, both. Appreciate that.

RICHARD FOGLESONG: Thank you.

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