Disney CEO Pledges $5M to LGBTQ+ Rights, Will Meet With Florida Gov.
“don’t say gay” bill and continuing to donate money to the bill’s sponsors, Disney CEO Bob Chapek, in his first public statement on the subject, shared that the company would be donating $5 million to the Human Rights Campaign and other organizations protecting LGBTQ rights.Chapek also intends to meet with Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis — who is set to sign the bill into law — to discuss the company’s concerns about the legislation.
The two already spoke over the phone, according to Chapek.“The governor heard our concerns and agreed to meet with me and LGBTQ+ members of our senior team in Florida to discuss the ways to address them,” Chapek said during Disney’s board meeting today, in which he officially confirmed the company’s opposition to the bill. “Governor DeSantis committed to me that he wanted to make sure that this law could not be weaponized in any way by individuals in the state or groups in the state to unduly harm or target gay, lesbian, nonbinary, or transgender kids and families.”Not everyone was as convinced.
This follows private statements made by Chapek including a memo sent to Disney staff earlier this week following mounting pressure.
In it, he assured staff that the company “unequivocally” stands with its LGBTQ+ workers and that it would be reassessing its donations, but fell short of an actual rebuke of the law or a promise to stop donating to politicians who sponsored or supported it.
