Disney CEO Bob Iger addressed the ongoing writers and actors strikes during the Mouse House’s quarterly earnings call Wednesday, just as the WGA’s work stoppage hit the 100-day mark.
“Nothing is more important to this company than its relationships with the creative community. That includes actors, writers, animators, directors and producers,” Iger said. “I have deep respect and appreciation to how vital they are to the extraordinary creative enginge that drives this company and our industry. It is my fervent hope that we can quickly find solutions to the issues that have kept us apart these past few months. And I am personally committed to working toward this result.”
While this is the first time Iger has remarked on the strikes since the actors officially joined the picket lines July 14, he made headlines with the comments he gave July 13 ahead of SAG-AFTRA declaring its decision to walk off sets after failing to reach an agreement after extended negotiations with the AMPTP.
“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,” Iger said in a July 13 interview with CNBC while he was attending the Sun Valley Conference in Idaho. “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.”