Credit: Inside the MagicYears ago, Abigail Disney, the granddaughter of Walt Disney Company co-founder Roy O. Disney published a scathing op-ed in The Washington Post where she called out CEO Bob Iger for the “naked indecency” of his nearly $70 million salary. Now, her remarks are proving to be truer than ever as the historic Hollywood writers’ strike rages on.
It’s shaping up to be a pretty abysmal year for the entertainment industry, with the Writers Guild of America taking a stand against major Hollywood studios in the fight for fair wages, job security, and residuals in an ever-changing world of streaming. And now, actors are joining the picket line after SAG-AFTRA voted to go on strike for the first time in 63 years as part of this historic labor battle.
As for the media conglomerates that are being saddled with most of the blame, they’ve stayed all but silent over the past few months. Even the biggest scripted TV series and movie productions, including Marvel’s Blade (2024) and, more recently, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2 (2024), have screeched to a halt, with no end in sight as writers and actors continue to double down on their demands.
The guild arguments are meant to address changes that have come to the film and television industry in the wake of streaming, including the use of AI, streaming royalties, and accusations that studios are trying to turn writers into gig workers.
So far, studios haven’t budged, with Deadline reporting that streaming giants such as Warner Bros. Discovery, Apple, Netflix, and others are determined to “break the WGA,” counting on the fact that most writers will be financially strained after months on the picket lines and no income, forcing them to return to work.
This “cruel but necessary evil” has been justifiably called out by critics, who cite studio heads such as Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav as the root of the problem. Zaslav was reportedly paid $250 million last year, which is about the same level as what 10 thousand writers are asking him to pay them collectively.
Meanwhile, Disney boss Bob Iger, who returned to the company after “retiring” at the end of 2021, earns over $25 million a year, while Netflix’s Reed Hastings, who in January exited his co-CEO role in 2022, left with a compensation package worth $51.1 million.
Needless to say, streaming CEOs make more than enough to live comfortably, which is especially egregious considering the people who actually write the TV shows and movies that earn them billions of dollars can barely afford to pay rent. Still, Iger recently had a lot to say about the strike, where he blasted both the writers and the actors gearing up to announce their own strike for their “unrealistic demands.”
Speaking with CNBC’s aptly-named “Squawk Box” Thursday morning, Iger addressed studios’ business struggles post-COVID, implying that writers are fully aware of the damage they’re causing to the already fragile entertainment industry. He also suggested that writers should curb their expectations when it comes to their demands for fair wages and equal treatment, saying, “this is the worst time in the world” for them to protest:
It’s very disturbing to me. We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we’re facing, the recovery from COVID which is ongoing, it’s not completely back. This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption. I understand any labor organization’s desire to work on behalf of its members to get the most compensation and be compensated fairly based on the value that they deliver. We managed, as an industry, to negotiate a very good deal with the Directors’ Guild that reflects the value that the directors contribute to this great business. We wanted to do the same thing with the writers, and we’d like to do the same thing with the actors. There’s a level of expectation that they have, that is just not realistic. And they are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive.
If you’re shocked and, frankly, nauseated by the seemingly out-of-touch Disney boss saying writers are asking too much, all while pocketing over $25 million per year, you’re not alone. Dozens of critics have taken to social media to call out Iger for his recent remarks, especially considering that Disney agreeing to writers’ terms would cost them $75 million a year, which is less than half of a budget of a movie like The Little Mermaid (2023).
Back in May, Disney also sent a threatening letter to showrunners demanding they continue working during the writers strike in clear violation of work stoppage guidelines. Now, in light of his new remarks, this letter has Iger’s fingerprints all over it.
For many, this recent wave of controversy is painting Iger in a new light. But this is hardly the first time the Disney CEO has been called out for his multi-million dollar paystubs. As a matter of fact, Abigail Disney, the direct descendant of Walt Disney himself, pointed out his glaring hypocrisy all the way back in 2019, when she published an op-ed in The Washington Post calling out Iger for the wage inequality at her great-uncle’s company.
She initially took to Twitter, claiming she “had to speak out” about the “naked indecency” of Iger’s pay, citing a staggering statistic that reported his $65 million salary was “1,424 times the median pay of a Disney worker:”
I had to speak out about the naked indecency of chief executive Robert Iger’s pay. According to Equilar, Iger took home more than $65 million in 2018. That’s 1,424 times the median pay of a Disney worker. To put that gap in context, in 1978, the average CEO made about 30 times a typical worker’s salary. Since 1978, CEO pay has grown by 937 percent, while the pay of an average worker grew just 11.2 percent.
However, Disney noted that she wasn’t “arguing that Iger and others do not deserve bonuses,” even saying that they have “led the company brilliantly.” She added that “the people who contribute to its success” should also receive a piece of the pie, especially in the wake of a $11.1 billion year for Disney:
At a company that has never been more profitable, whose top executives drive home with seven- and eight-figure paychecks and whose primary resource is the good-spirited, public-facing people who greet guests day after day, why are we dancing around a minimum wage anyway? I’m not arguing that Iger and others do not deserve bonuses. They do. They have led the company brilliantly. I am saying that the people who contribute to its success also deserve a share of the profits they have helped make happen.
To clarify, this piece was published back in 2019, and Disney’s observations only seem all the more relevant in 2023. Considering that the writers strike has been a long time coming, it seems like Disney was keenly aware of these issues in pay discrepancy for years, and correctly suspected that a breaking point was on the horizon.
In retrospect, Abigail Disney’s piece makes for a compelling read amid current events, though it seems like Bob Iger isn’t planning on leaving the Walt Disney Company anytime soon. Just yesterday, the controversial CEO had his contract extended two more years through 2026, which isn’t surprising considering just how savvy—and cutthroat—of a businessman he can be when push comes to shove.
Oddly enough, most people at Disney still have nothing but positive things to say about Iger’s leadership, and it’ll be interesting to see if their sentiments remain the same following his divisive comments about the ongoing WGA strike.
Iger has proven to be a valuable asset to the company in the past. Still, with Abigail Disney’s words in mind, it’s hard to ignore that he sleeps comfortably in a $33 million mansion while the creators behind TV’s most beloved works can’t even afford to pay rent.
What do you think of Abigail Disney’s 2019 op-ed resurfacing amid the latest criticism against Bob Iger? Let us know in the comments below.