You're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR. I'm Sam Sanders. My guest today has a pretty

famous last name. But I have a very foggy memory. I think I must have been five or six years

old of writing in the first boat the day they opened up the small world right next to my grandfather

and holding his hand. That is filmmaker and activist Abigail Disney. Yeah, Disney, which would make

her grandfather Roy O. Disney, the co-founder of the Walt Disney company, and older brother of Walt Disney.

Abigail's dad was Roy E. Disney. So I have this actually kind of formative memory. I'm convinced

it's why I love going to the UN because it's like grown up small world right? It's in their like

national dress and it's just so exciting. But I remember that so well because my grandfather

loved that ride incredibly and so I love it incredibly and it's just every aspiration of mine

in life. You know that we can all get along. Despite Abigail's family history, she is actually

not a fan of the Disney we all know. Back in 2019 Abigail wrote this op-ed and watched in post

calling out then CEO Bob Eiger. She thought it was unfair that Eiger took home $65 million in

pay in just one year. Since then Abigail Disney has become one of Disney's most vocal and prominent

critics. She's lobbied for a reduction in executive pay. She's pushed for increased wages for

Disney's low-income workers. She's asking for Disney to become a different kind of company.

And her mission feels especially acute during this pandemic as Disney has had to furlough and lay

off tens of thousands of its workers. So today on the show we're going to dive deep into Disney

with a Disney and how Abigail thinks the company and really all of corporate America should change.

Just to note before we start the Walt Disney Company is a sponsor of NPR.

All right with that before we get into everything I wanted to ask Abigail Disney why she chose

to speak out in the first place. It's a hard thing and it was a hard thing. I'm you know I'm 61

years old I haven't really done this publicly about Disney specifically until recently because

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