Disney CEO Bob Iger said Thursday that the media conglomerate is prioritizing entertainment in its content over messaging.
“The bottom line is that infusing messaging as a sort of number one priority in our films and TV shows is not what we’re up to,” Iger said in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”
“They need to be entertaining and look — where the Disney company can have a positive impact on the world, whether it’s, you know, fostering acceptance and understanding of, you know, people of all different types, great,” he continued. “But, generally speaking, we need to be an entertainment-first company, and I’ve worked really hard to do that.”
Iger first served as Disney’s CEO from 2005-2020. He returned in November 2022, after former CEO Bob Chapek was fired.
Elsewhere in his “Squawk on the Street” interview, Iger told anchor David Faber that Disney is attempting to garner and maintain a “very diverse audience.”
“That audience, because they are so diverse, really, first and foremost, they want to be entertained, and sometimes they can be turned off by certain things, and we just have to be more sensitive to the interest of a broad audience,” he said. “You can’t please everybody all the time.”
Iger has repeatedly claimed the company would avoid being “agenda-driven,” but its content, which has focused more on diversity and inclusion in recent years, along with its stances against harmful legislation, has led Republican figures like presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to call the company “woke.”
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Laura Davis is an entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to Broadway, she offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
