{"id":16402,"date":"2022-03-14T15:18:08","date_gmt":"2022-03-14T15:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/?p=16402"},"modified":"2022-03-14T15:30:46","modified_gmt":"2022-03-14T15:30:46","slug":"walt-disney-ceo-vs-parental-rights-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/walt-disney-ceo-vs-parental-rights-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Walt Disney CEO vs. “Parental Rights” Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
You needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down. I am sorry.’<\/div>\n
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Walt Disney Company<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0CEO\u00a0Bob Chapek<\/strong>\u00a0is telling employees he\u2019s sorry for not speaking out against so-called \u201cparental rights<\/strong><\/a>\u201d legislation critics have dubbed the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d bill, and Chapek revealed the company is suspending political donations in Florida.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down. I am sorry,\u201d Chapek said in a memo obtained by the\u00a0Hollywood Reporter<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and other media outlets.<\/p>\n

Chapek also outlined the company\u2019s next steps in his memo.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarting immediately, we are increasing our support for advocacy groups to combat similar legislation in other states. We are hard at work creating a new framework for our political giving that will ensure our advocacy better reflects our values. And today, we are pausing all political donations in the state of Florida pending this review,\u201d the memo said.<\/p>\n

In his memo, Chapek acknowledged the negative feedback he\u2019s heard from Disney employees expressing \u201ctheir pain, frustration and sadness over the company\u2019s response to the Florida \u2018Don\u2019t Say Gay\u2019 bill.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cSpeaking to you, reading your messages, and meeting with you have helped me better understand how painful our silence was,\u201d Chapek said in the memo.<\/p>\n

Chapek\u2019s apology comes at the end of a long week for Disney.<\/p>\n

For the first time during an annual shareholder\u2019s meeting Wednesday, Chapek disclosed he was opposed to the Florida bill that limits what educators can say about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. Chapek was under fire for not speaking out sooner and taking a stronger stance against the bill in Florida, where Disney is one of the largest employers and holds considerable political clout.<\/p>\n

Chapek said Wednesday the company was quietly lobbying behind the scenes with legislators against the bill. The Disney CEO also said he planned to meet in person with Gov.\u00a0Ron DeSantis<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

After Wednesday\u2019s meeting, Disney was soon caught in between the crossfire from both DeSantis and an LGBTQ+ advocacy group.<\/p>\n

Chapek announced a $5 million donation Wednesday to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) to support LGBTQ+ rights. But the HRC declined Disney\u2019s money and chastised the company for not doing more to fight the legislation.<\/p>\n

And DeSantis, a supporter of the new bill, issued a statement aimed at Disney that said, \u201cCompanies that have made a fortune catering to families should understand that parents don\u2019t want this injected into their kid\u2019s kindergarten classroom. Our policies will be based on the best interest of Florida citizens, not the musing of woke corporations.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down. I am sorry.’ Walt Disney Company\u00a0CEO\u00a0Bob Chapek\u00a0is telling employees he\u2019s sorry for not speaking out against so-called \u201cparental rights\u201d legislation critics have dubbed the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d bill, and Chapek revealed the company is suspending political Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16405,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3,40,5,6,51,1],"tags":[12,1300,26,1299],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16402"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16406,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16402\/revisions\/16406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}