Disney has been taking it on the chin the past few years.
The stock price is down, along with subscriptions, theme park attendance, and movie ticket sales.
And a former NFL quarterback ripped Disney to shreds for one underhanded tactic.
Disney woes
Disney has been dealing with problems on multiple fronts.
The company’s commitment to “wokeness” has tarnished the family-friendly brand.
Disney also effectively lost its culture war fight with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
And CEO Bob Iger had to stave off a tough proxy fight on the board of directors.
Disney’s television properties ABC and ESPN have also been hurting.
Both networks have undergone massive layoffs, and Disney has even flirted with spinning off ESPN.
The so-called “worldwide leader in sports” has done considerable damage to its brand by getting political and creating a hostile work environment for anyone with right-of-center views.
Virtually every prominent conservative voice has been run off the network.
And former NFL quarterback and number two overall pick Ryan Leaf trashed his former employer.
Leaf unloads on ESPN
Leaf was at ESPN as a college football analyst for the 2019–2020 season before accepting promotions to similar roles for NFL coverage on Westwood One and Comcast-owned UK network Sky Sports.
During an interview with Outkick, Leaf—who was selected as the second overall pick by the San Diego Chargers in the 1998 NFL draft after Peyton Manning—took aim at the network and on-air personalities Kirk Herbstreit and Pat McAfee.
Leaf claimed that Herbstreit and McAfee were too flippant and disrespectful of Washington State—Leaf’s alma mater—and Oregon State, the two teams in the PAC-12 Conference that got left without a seat.
USC, UCLA, Washington, and Oregon all fled to the Big Ten for a bigger television deal, and other teams scattered to the Big XII.
That left the PAC-12 with a measly two teams, all but spelling eventual doom for the conference.
After Leaf called out Herbstreit and McAfee, he claimed that he was essentially blacklisted, and ultimately fired.
Leaf told Outkick, “The coordinated producer calls me and I said, ‘Well, you’re not making this decision. Who’s making this decision?’ He said, ‘Well, someone above my pay grade.’ And I said, ‘Well, you need to have someone above your pay grade call me.’ So they did and by that time I had confirmed people on why it happened. So when I got them on the phone, I was just like, yeah, I think this is about right. I think you and I, we don’t have shared values and so I think this is probably the proper decision. I get it, I get it. You got $85 million people scaring you, you got to fall in line. And so I understand that, on my end of things.”
Last year, Herbstreit claimed that Leaf misunderstood the comments made on the show.
Huh?
Is this a real tweet???
You must have been hacked Ryan.
Lee’s point OBVIOUSLY was-it is 2 teams that have been left out-that haven’t found a home yet-NOT the “no one watches Bowl”. Know you’re excited your boys won but DAMN! https://t.co/hfMIBt9YX8— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) September 24, 2023
Herbstreit also denied that he had anything to do with Leaf getting fired.
In addition to the drama with the College Gameday hosts, Leaf said that his values did not align with ESPN.
Leaf discussed ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky posting on social media, “Protect our daughters,” in reference to biological males competing in women’s sports.
Orlovsky admitted that he was pressured to delete the message.
WATCH: “Protect our daughters.” is NOT controversial.
What about that statement does @ESPN disagree with? @danorlovsky7 says it doesn’t match up with the company’s values. @RyanDLeaf had a similar situation with @KirkHerbstreit and @PatMcAfeeShow 🔥🎙⤵ pic.twitter.com/GG9YQARXvt— OutKick Hot Mic (@Outkick360) August 20, 2024
NFL Countdown host Samantha Ponder made similar comments in defense of women’s sports, as did Sage Steele.
Both were fired by the network.
Disney has clearly decided to double and triple down on “woke” politics.
Stay tuned to Unmuzzled News for any updates to this ongoing story.
