Disney Boss Bob Chapek Scrambles To Reset ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Response; “I Let You Down,” CEO Says In Latest Letter To Staff

deadline.com:

Disney CEO Bob Chapek is in full damage control mode today as the blast radius from the company’s bungled response to Florida’s “discriminatory ‘Don’t Say Gay’ legislation threatens his newly minted reign at the House of Mouse.“You needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down,” Chapek said to Disney staffers Friday in the second reset in as many days. “I am sorry.”Chapek tried and failed both in a previous bureaucratic heavy letter and at the March 9 shareholder meeting to punt any public statement on the Sunshine State measure that ban any discussion or teaching about the LGBTQ+ community and “sexual orientation or gender identity.

Insisting that “corporate statements do very little to change outcomes or minds” in almost instantly denounced March 7 memo, the reaction was in clear contrast to Chapek’s smooth predecessor Bob Iger, who made maneuvering Disney from being on the wrong side politically and culturally a top priority.Now Chapek is back peddling into such a stance.“I truly believe we are an infinitely better and stronger company because of our LGBTQ+ community,” he noted also in today’s correspondence. “I missed the mark in this case but am an ally you can count on—and I will be an outspoken champion for the protections, visibility, and opportunity you deserve,” Chapek added, promising that Disney is “increasing our support for advocacy groups to combat similar legislation in other states.”The check from one of Florida’s largest employers might not be cashed, or might not be enough to clean the corporate stain of the Magic KingdomNot only has the new-ish CEO faced outrage from a wide variety of employees at Pixar and elsewhere, and the greater  LGBTQ+ community, but he and