How Disney's CEO Got Caught in Florida's Fight Over Gay Rights
The Journal.
The Wall Street Journal
4.2 • 5.8K Ratings
🗓️ 21 March 2022
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Disney employees around the country have been staging daily protests this week. |
| 0:10.8 | And tomorrow they're planning a full day walk out. |
| 0:14.4 | They're protesting the way the company's CEO responded to a bill that recently passed |
| 0:18.8 | in Florida. |
| 0:20.6 | Florida State Senate passed the so-called Don't Say Gay Bill, which aims to ban the discussion |
| 0:26.2 | of sexuality and gender identity in schools. |
| 0:29.7 | Students, teachers are rising up in protest. |
| 0:33.2 | This is a peaceful demonstration to show the Florida legislature that what they are doing |
| 0:41.0 | does not represent us. |
| 0:43.5 | Disney has a massive presence in Florida. |
| 0:46.2 | There's Disney World, tens of thousands of employees, and the company enjoys tax breaks |
| 0:51.0 | from the state. |
| 0:52.0 | So, when the bill was introduced, people looked to Disney's CEO, Bob Chepek, to see how |
| 0:57.8 | he would respond. |
| 0:59.8 | At first, Chepek was silent, but after facing an avalanche of criticism from employees and |
| 1:05.2 | shareholders, he reversed course and decided to take a firm stand against the bill. |
| 1:12.7 | The whole thing ended up being a complete quagmire for Chepek and for the company in general. |
| 1:17.9 | That's our colleague Robbie Whelan, who covers Disney. |
| 1:20.2 | And he says this whole situation has come at a bad time for Chepek. |
| 1:24.2 | The company's stock is not doing well. |
| 1:26.3 | They don't have a very rich slate of movies coming out this year to rely on to generate |
| 1:31.0 | big profits. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Wall Street Journal, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Wall Street Journal and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

