Disney CEO Defends ‘Lack of a Statement’ Over Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill: ‘They Can Be Counterproductive’

LGBTQ+ Walt Disney Company employees and their allies put on a “full stage” walkout Tuesday at various corporate locations across the U.S. to protest what they see as a “lame” and “inadequate” stance taken by the company and its CEO Bob Chapek to the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida.

As many of its LGBTQ+ employees get set for a full-day walkout tomorrow, Disney has decided to postpone a management retreat set for next week as it continues efforts to calm the internal waters.

After coming under fire for its handling of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Pixar is restoring a cut scene from its upcoming film “Lightyear”.

Angelique Jackson “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” creator Tim Federle makes his directorial debut with the film “Better Nate Than Ever,” adapted from his award-winning book by the same name.The story follows 13-year-old Nate (newcomer Rueby Wood), an awkward, aspiring theater kid who can’t land a role in his school play, yet follows his dream from his hometown of Pittsburgh to audition on Broadway. Lisa Kudrow, Joshua Bassett, Aria Brooks and Broadway legends Michelle Federer and Norbert Leo Butz also star.As the cast and crew gathered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood Tuesday night to celebrate the film’s April 1 launch on Disney Plus, Federle spoke to Variety about the story’s discussion of sexuality, the importance of LGBTQ representation in entertainment and weighed in on the controversy over Disney’s handling of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

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Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek and other company leaders received a letter from Disney’s LGBTQIA+ Business Employee Resource Groups on Feb. 28, requesting the company “issue a public statement condemning anti-LGBTQIA+ policies in the U.S.” just after Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill had passed the state’s House of Representatives, but before it cleared the Senate, Variety has learned exclusively.“While there are over 200 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills being introduced across the nation (and more globally), we urge you to begin with speaking against these acts: The ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill in Florida (set to go into effect July 1st) and the Texas Governor’s directive for state agencies to investigate gender-affirming care as ‘child abuse,'” reads the letter, which was obtained by Variety Thursday, following Chapek’s first public opposition to the “Don’t Say Gay” bill at the Disney shareholders meeting Wednesday.

In response to Chapek’s statement, Joni Madison, Interim President of the Human Rights Campaign, released the following statement: “The Human Rights Campaign will not accept this money from Disney until we see them build on their public commitment and work with LGBTQ+ advocates to ensure that dangerous proposals, like Florida’s Don’t Say Gay or Trans bill, don’t become dangerous laws, and if they do, to work to get them off the books. Businesses have had and continue to have a major impact in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, from marriage equality to the defeat of House Bill 2 in North Carolina and beyond.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDisney CEO Bob Chapek said Wednesday the company is pledging $5 million to the Human Rights Campaign and other organizations protecting LGBTQ rights following backlash to the company’s initial quiet response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, as well as a report that the company has given money to all of the bill’s sponsors. Chapek, who is taking his first public stance against the bill, says he will also be meeting with Republican Gov.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek said on its shareholders meeting on Wednesday that he will be meeting with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis along with other Disney LGBTQ+ leaders in order to discuss the controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill that was passed in the state legislature this week.

In June 2021, the 13-story section of the Champlain Towers South condominium complex in Surfside, Florida, collapsed and the devastating incident is still under investigation. To this day, many people still have unanswered questions about what caused the fatal event. That’s why the Miami Herald and Treefort Media have teamed up for a new podcast called “Collapse: Disaster in Surfside.”

The Florida Senate has passed the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” on Tuesday, March 8.In a 22-17 vote, the Republican-controlled Senate approved the bill. It will now go on to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign it. If a school district is suspected of violating this law, parents would be able to sue.During the debate, Democrat Shevrin Jones, Florida’s first openly gay senator, tearfully said to his colleagues, “To those who think you can legislate gay people away, I’m sorry.

The Animation Guild’s Executive Board and QueerTAG Committee posted a response to social media regarding Disney’s CEO Bob Chapek and his lack of action or statement condemning Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

The Washington Post reported.The legislation is part of a wider attack on civil rights by the increasingly authoritarian Republican Party.

demonstrate outside Disney theme parks in Florida and California urging the company to denounce the proposed bill, which President Joe Biden has slammed as “hateful.” Further exacerbating the public backlash against Disney was an Orlando Sentinel report that Disney, despite casting itself as an LGBTQ-affirming place, gave money to every single sponsor and co-sponsor of the bill, including the bill’s Senate sponsor, Sen. Dennis Baxley (R-Belleview), who has proposed multiple pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation during his time as a politician in Tallahassee.In response to stories about Disney’s political donations, Abigail Disney, the 62-year-old granddaughter of the company’s co-founder Roy O.

Facing rising outcry, Disney CEO Bob Chapek has decided to play a political and cultural version of a church mouse when it comes to Florida’s new ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill.

Ethan Shanfeld In the wake of controversy over Disney’s quiet response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Disney CEO Bob Chapek expressed the company’s “unwavering commitment to the LGBTQ+ community” in a company-wide email obtained by Variety.“In terms of our communities, we are and will continue to be a leader in supporting organizations that champion diversity,” the memo reads. “In 2021, we provided nearly $3 million to support the work of LGBTQ+ organizations.

A Florida student was indefinitely suspended for organising a statewide walkout in protest of the state’s “Don’t Say Gay Bill.”Jack Petocz, a student at Flagler Palm Coast High School (FPCHS) in Palm Coast Florida, USA, planned a March 3 rally in order to protest the Parental Rights in Education bill or “Don’t Say Gay Bill.”              I organized the statewide #DSGWalkout today in response to attempts to silence and erase the LGBTQ+ community in Florida. I was indefinitely suspended from my school for organizing a peaceful rally.