Credit: Inside the MagicDisney Entertainment co-chair and rumored heir to Bob Iger’s seat at the head of the table, Dana Walden, has just one thing to say about the Donald Trump scandal currently brewing at ABC News: she won’t dignify it.
After weeks of back-and-forth between the Trump and Kamala Harris camps, the two presidential candidates finally met for a televised debate on September 10.
The highly anticipated, immediately contentious debate was hosted by ABC News (which is owned by Disney) and moderated by World News Tonight anchor and managing editor David Muir. ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis will moderate.
While it is impossible to achieve a true consensus in the fractured, social-media-driven political landscape of modern America, the majority of post-debate polls indicate viewers generally felt Vice President Kamala Harris won by a significant margin.
CNN reports that 63% of respondents indicated that Harris had a better performance, while the New York Times collected a number of significant figures by handing the win to her.
Related: Donald Trump Wants Disney’s ABC Stars Fired After Presidential Debate
Unsurprisingly, former President Donald Trump feels that he won by a huge margin and that Harris was given advantages by the moderators (who were fact-checking his numerous lies in real-time) and by ABC itself.
His political allies and supporters have quickly taken up this line of discussion, claiming that VP Harris must have been given the debate questions ahead of time or that she had been wearing an earpiece to receive instruction.
Another topic that has emerged is the personal friendship between Kamala Harris and Dana Walden, two of the most powerful figures in the Disney hierarchy.
Numerous conservative commentators are attempting to link Harris, a former prosecutor, California District Attorney, and Senator well-known for her research and advance prep, outperforming the 78-year-old Donald Trump on the debate stage, to this friendship.
Disney’s Dana Walden responds to claims that the presidential debate was biased due to her friendship with Kamala Harris:
“I don’t want to dignify it with much of a response. … [ABC News] is the most professional organization [with] the most top-notch journalists.” pic.twitter.com/MQAOf4Viqg
— Variety (@Variety) September 15, 2024
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Speaking to Variety at last night’s Primetime Emmy Awards red carpet, Dana Walden was having none of it. Responding to questions as to whether her friendship with the vice president meant that ABC was biased, Walden shut things down quickly, saying, “you know I really don’t want to dignify it with much of a response. I have the highest regard for everyone at ABC News. It’s the most professional organization, the most top-notch journalists, and [the allegation] doesn’t really dignify much of a response.”
This almost certainly won’t be the last time that Disney executives run afoul of Trump and other conservative politicians trying to play a blame game, but Dana Walden, at least, isn’t playing anymore.
Did you watch the ABC News debate? Who do you think won?