For years, Bob Iger styled himself as not that kind of capitalist, the sort of soft-guy businessman amiable enough to broker big deals while also earning liberal plaudits for teasing a presidential run. If the reports are true, his coastal charm offensive is about to pay off big.
Joe Biden is reportedly tapping the Disney executive chairman as his ambassador to China. The Chinese Communist Party is likely licking its chops at the prospect.
Under Iger’s tenure as CEO, a role he conveniently vacated just as the coronavirus started making headlines, Disney bet big on Chinese markets. At the steep price of more than $5 billion, Disney opened its first resort in mainland China in 2016. The company’s studio chose to film the live-action Mulan in Xinjiang province and even made a point of thanking specific Chinese officials for allowing them to do so alongside their program of genocide there. These choices evince a prioritization for Chinese moviegoers over Americans.
If Biden is serious about being tough on China, he’ll cross Iger off his list immediately. Theoretically, Iger’s complicity in allowing Harvey Weinstein, who has since been convicted of rape, to run Miramax and John Lasseter, a credibly accused predator, to run Pixar should render him a non-starter for any post in the Biden administration. But to choose Iger specifically as our key agent in negotiations with China doesn’t signal weakness. It puts the entire Western world at the mercy of Iger’s personal stake in Chinese markets.
Although Iger stepped down as Disney’s CEO, he remains its top shareholder with 0.06% of the company, which itself has a market cap of more than $300 billion. Iger is worth close to $700 million, and his rush to return to “save” Disney from the coronavirus crisis signals that he’s still the kingmaker there. Such a conflict of interest, given Disney’s horrific investment in Chinese markets, means that Iger cannot possibly act with the best interests of the nation at heart when he has his own legacy, future career prospects, and personal financial stakes to prioritize in such a powerful role.
China’s regime is evil. It poses an existential threat to freedom the world over, and it is committing genocide at home. It also funds North Korea in its reign of terror and it is openly dismantling personal freedoms in Hong Kong, in violation of its treaty obligations.
Iger, a political hack, threatened to stop filming in Georgia due to recently enacted restrictions on abortion, yet he refuses to weigh in on the Uighur massacre. His appointment as ambassador would be a gift to Beijing.
