Disney employees are reportedly concerned about the company rolling back DEI initiatives and other actions that seem to cater to President Donald Trump.
Disney Employees Share Concerns with DEI Initiative Rollback
In a Deadline report by Dominic Patten, some employees of The Walt Disney Company anonymously expressed upset over Disney ending their “Reimagine Tomorrow” initiative and removing phrasing about DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) from corporate filings.
“It’s like Chapek on steroids!” one insider said, referencing former Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s battle with Florida regarding the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
In 2022, The Walt Disney Company faced criticism for donating to all sponsors of the Parental Rights in Education Act, which “prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity” in lower grades. Chapek initially remained silent on the issue and Disney released a statement avoiding responsibility. Several Disney employees, Cast Members, and former CEO Bob Iger spoke out. Chapek finally denounced the bill after it passed the Florida Senate.
This led Governor Ron DeSantis on a campaign against Disney, ultimately taking over the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) where Walt Disney World resides. The RCID became the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, which attempted to end Disney’s development agreements with the former board, leading to lawsuits on both sides. Disney and the District settled in March 2024. Meanwhile, Chapek was fired in 2022 and Iger was re-hired as CEO, taking a seemingly firm stance on the side of inclusion.
One of the core values of our storytelling is inclusion, [and] acceptance, and tolerance. And we can’t lose that, we just can’t lose that.
How we actually change the world through the good must continue. We’re not going to make everyone happy all the time, and we’re not going try to. We’re certainly not going to lessen our core values in order to make everyone happy all the time.
Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company
Many feel Iger’s stance has changed.
“This is not what I expected from Bob — I thought he had our back,” said the Disney insider about recent moves.
Following news that “Reimagine Tomorrow” was ending, Disney’s Senior Executive VP and Chief Human Resources Officer Sonia Coleman said in a memo to staff that their new framework is “designed to align our initiatives with our business goals and company values” (via Deadline).
Disney’s Diversity & Inclusion metric was replaced with “Talent Strategy.” The “Reimagine Tomorrow” hub — which launched in 2021 after Disney added “Inclusion” to their Five Keys of Cast Member training — has been replaced with an “Inclusion” page outlining the four tenets of the new framework: people, culture, market reach, and community.
The former page read:
At Disney, inclusion is for everyone.
Reimagine Tomorrow is our way of amplifying underrepresented voices and untold stories as well as championing the importance of accurate representation in media and entertainment. Because we are all greater than a single story and we all deserve to feel seen, heard and understood.
The new page reads:
At Disney, we want everyone to belong and thrive.
At Disney, creating a welcoming and respectful environment for our employees and guests is core to our company culture and our business. We create entertainment that appeals to a global audience, and having a workforce that reflects the consumers we serve helps drive our business.
These changes all come soon after President Trump’s inauguration and immediate push to end DEI initiatives. Trump’s administration banned diversity programs from federal departments and is fighting against media companies. Patten cited an investigation into Comcast’s DEI programs.
Trump and his supporters claim DEI initiatives are discrimination. It’s the same claim former “The Mandalorian” actress Gina Carano makes in her lawsuit against Disney and Lucasfilm. Carano was fired in 2021 after comparing criticism of political views to the Holocaust. The suit demands Disney be “held accountable for their bullying, discriminatory, and retaliatory actions” against her.
Carano’s lawsuit is funded by Elon Musk, who has called Disney’s inclusion standards “mandatory racism and sexism.” In 2023, Musk was frequently outspoken against Disney and Bob Iger on X (formerly Twitter) after Disney pulled advertising from the platform.
Trump himself has also criticized Disney. At an event a few weeks before his inauguration, he praised former Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter for leaving Disney — despite Perlmutter being laid off. Trump said Perlmutter “went from stone-cold broke to owning Disney. Then he got out of Disney because they went woke. He didn’t want woke Donald Duck, right?” (via Variety)
The previously cited Disney insider said the state of the company’s DEI initiatives is “uncertain.”
In addition to the changes outlined above, Disney is also changing the wording of their content advisory on certain streaming titles. The current Disney+ content advisory reads:
This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.
Disney is committed to creating stories with inspirational and aspirational themes that reflect the rich diversity of the human experience around the globe.
To learn more about how stories have impacted society visit: www.Disney.com/StoriesMatter
The Stories Matter URL now redirects to the “Inclusion” landing page.
The warning is listed in the “Details” section and appeared on screen before such films as “Peter Pan” and “Dumbo.” The new warning will reportedly just be in the “Details” and read, “This program is presented as originally created and may contain stereotypes or negative depictions.”
“What’s next?” the insider said. “Where do we go from here? What do we stand for now, keeping MAGA happy?”
Another source, who Patten described as “well positioned,” called ABC News’ $15 million pay-out to settle a defamation lawsuit with Trump an “embarrassment” and “the beginning of the capitulation.”
Trump’s anti-DEI crusade also includes attacks on transgender individuals, another sticking point for some at Disney. After news broke that Disney had removed a transgender storyline from the Disney+ Pixar series “Win or Lose,” many former Pixar employees expressed their disappointment. According to Patten, several long-time Disney employees referred to the move as shocking and “pandering to MAGA.”
Patten summarized, “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.”
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Disney’s most recent offerings have been substandard at best. If all these people who are complaining about the new culture not being inclusive enough are the same people who put out garbage, then don’t let the door hit them on the way out. Time to put story about message and excitement above inclusion.