Bob Iger Roasted for Calling Hollywood Strike Demands Unrealistic: ‘Not Much Is Realistic When You Make $27 Million a Year’
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Disney CEO Bob Iger sat down for an interview Thursday morning and started trending immediately after he said that the WGA and SAG-AFTRA’s conditions were “just not realistic” and that the prospect of a writers and actors strike was “very disturbing.”
Iger’s comments come on a historic day, when SAG-AFTRA is expected to announce they are joining WGA on the picket lines after their Wednesday contract negotiations deadline passed without a deal. It would be the first Hollywood double strike in sixty years.
Also notable for context, Iger’s comments arrive the day after his Disney contract was extended for an additional two years. Sky-high executive salaries have become a lightning rod during the WGA strike and a rallying cry on social media as CEOs.
“The lack of self awareness in this business never ceases to amaze me,” actor Anson Mount said on social media in response to Iger’s Thursday comments, highlighting Iger’s exec pay package.
Also Read:
Bob Iger Says Linear TV Business ‘May Not Be Core’ to Disney
Speaking of C-suite pay, Iger’s interview was also set across the sprawling pastoral landscape of Sun Valley, Idaho, where media’s biggest moguls gather for what’s colloquially been dubbed “billionaire summer camp.”
“Well if nothing else, Bob Iger giving this quote to CNBC’s Squawk Box from Sun Valley is putting Hollywood satire writers out of business,” The Black List founder Franklin Leonard quipped on Twitter.
Suffice it to say, the combination of all these elements did not go over well and Iger quickly shot to the top trending spots on Twitter as users had a field day roasting Iger’s latest comments.
This from a man who earns $27M annually, not including bonuses (which almost double that figure) and stock options. The lack of self awareness in this business never ceases to amaze me. https://t.co/Z09PEwqzte
— Anson Mount
(@ansonmount) July 13, 2023
Well if nothing else, Bob Iger giving this quote to CNBC’s Squawk Box from Sun Valley is putting Hollywood satire writers out of business. https://t.co/SBc3VsvZ40
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) July 13, 2023
Not much is realistic when you make $27 million a year.
— Bow Tie Casey (@bowtiecasey) July 13, 2023
The residual check from my episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was $396. https://t.co/TcS6WO1MjL
— Cody Ziglar (updates mostly) (@yayforzig) July 13, 2023
He's not doing this interview in Sun Valley, Idaho, at what's often called "billionaire summer camp" is he?
Haha no way that would be so silly of him. https://t.co/AQUVaMGP5O— Stop Cop City (@JoshuaPHilll) July 13, 2023
Should I remind Bob that I worked as an assistant for three years on the Disney Lot for $32,000 a year and never got a raise?
— Travis Gunn
(@TravisAGunn) July 13, 2023
Reminder: Bob Iger does not create anything of value to Disney. No stories, characters, movies, shows, iconic moments, nothing.
That is all credit to the WORKERS they are trying to break. It’s long past time to balance the scales. https://t.co/Xjh4JcVTsf— Alec Kucharski (@AlecKucharski) July 13, 2023
You know what hurt support staff, Bob? Short orders. No upwards mobility bc of the stacking of UL writers with no real middle level or lower level writers. Your company being stingy with hours and setting precedents. That’s what is hurting support staff, not the fucking strike. https://t.co/hTvnzE3wPd
— Will Landman
(@WillTheLandMan) July 13, 2023
It’s not “realistic” to continue my Hulu account. https://t.co/ORXDdwBH74
— Ethan Embry (@EmbryEthan) July 13, 2023
Reminder that paying writers what they’re asking would cost Disney an extra 0.091% of annual revenue. pic.twitter.com/yLRhUdN92z
— Hannah Shaw-Williams (@HSW3K) July 13, 2023
Disney CEO Bob Iger—who makes $27M/year—complains that writers & actors aren't realistic in their demands, refuses to answer what’s unrealistic, & admits a strike will be devastating.
Yes—that’s how strikes work. That’s why they’re effective.
Pay Workerspic.twitter.com/DNw1T6SNft— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) July 13, 2023
Bob Iger, a man who is worth several hundred million dollars and runs a corporation that bills itself as a fantasy kingdom, is now lecturing writers and actors about the importance of realism. https://t.co/qsBrHVkcHA
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) July 13, 2023
There’s barely any pathway for support staff to rise up because shrinking episode orders and smaller writers rooms/mini rooms have decimated lower level job oops and freelance script opps. That’s why pre-wga have been on the line with us en masse. #wgastrong https://t.co/mmUgGtkfU0
— Judalina Neira (@TheJudalina) July 13, 2023
According to Forbes in 2019, Bob Iger’s net worth is $690 million. https://t.co/T8t587oxCk pic.twitter.com/cHdtD61JkQ
— Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) July 13, 2023
This is very disappointing. Of all the CEOs, I thought Iger would be the "adult in the room."
I worked for Disney for 13 years, most under Iger's tenure. I've met him. I believed he understood and supported creators.
I was wrong. This is the saddest day of the strike, for me. https://t.co/FpwthaYDfc— Shawna Benson (@shawnabenson) July 13, 2023
The Sun Valley backdrop on this interview is really
— Lila Byock (@LByock) July 13, 2023
Bout to pay an Etsy witch ten dollars to cast a curse on Bob Iger https://t.co/QaCHEWiL0A
— Page Against The Machine
(@bertiesayshello) July 13, 2023
Quick, somebody ask Bob Iger how much Disney pays showrunner assistants. https://t.co/ba7I0sZYD5
— Lila Byock (@LByock) July 13, 2023
Just to be clear, we don’t expect to make $40 million a year like Bob Iger. But we do expect to be able to sustain a career in this industry. That has to be realistic or the business has to change until it is. https://t.co/3QDJPuKsYS
— Jill Twiss (@jilltwiss) July 13, 2023
“you have to be realistic about this business environment” actually no we don’t. Your unrealistic business environment is on you and your wall street buddies. You can have fun with your exponentional growth expectations, our thing is wanting fair compensation for the art we make https://t.co/r2PSbY4Npi
— caitie delaney (@caitiedelaney) July 13, 2023
Well this extension Bob Iger signed yesterday is very disturbing to me https://t.co/N4KTrjD9nf pic.twitter.com/ieI78px00r
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) July 13, 2023
Disney+ removed both seasons of a show I’d staffed on from the platform, ensuring that I’ll never make another dollar in residuals from it, or be able to watch it again.
Mind you, the show gave them 11 Emmy Noms last year.
What’s “realistic” about that? https://t.co/MQ5iipjLK7— jr (@jamesearl23) July 13, 2023
Cool salary, bro.
— Andrew (@mylifedotnet) July 13, 2023
Bob Iger just gave himself a $5 million a year raise on his $27 million a year contract that he just extended through 2026, which is not realistic and very disturbing to me. https://t.co/3VLN7CsTOj
— Carrie Courogen (@carriecourogen) July 13, 2023
You gotta hand it to Iger cuz it takes a lot of meat in the pants to film an on-camera interview at the Sun Valley “billionaires’ summer camp” and keep a straight face while you blame striking writers for hurting struggling support staff.
— April Wolfe (@AWolfeful) July 13, 2023
"But if I can't continue the Hollywood tradition of exploiting workers, how can I continue to hoard even more wealth? It's unrealistic." https://t.co/30EzesDY25
— Cis Mel Moorer
(@knownforms) July 13, 2023
Bob Iger giving an interview: https://t.co/lprThcdAQP pic.twitter.com/0EYkjeBFDE
— J.W. Hendricks (@JW_Hendricks) July 13, 2023
Somehow, even with SAG joining the WGA on strike (once the actors’ national board meets at 9am to approve the negotiating committee’s unanimous recommendation), today’s main character of the strike is Bob Iger, who woke up and decided to be David Zaslav pic.twitter.com/sCEGu3le2R
— Rob Forman WGA Board Candidate & Uni Lot Coord (@robsforman) July 13, 2023
He also says that this business has been "good" to those on strike… You know nothing, Bob Iger. https://t.co/d0wumgE3Y5
— Olivia Truffaut-Wong (@iWatchiAm) July 13, 2023
They flame broiling Bob Iger on the TL. More fire. pic.twitter.com/Gb6ctemi6S
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) July 13, 2023
Primary tactic control
Paint your adversary( and its troubling it's so adversarial) as " unrealistic/ unhinged)
for having basic requests of respect and boundaries
Expect no push back
This is also why covering these men too much is BAD for labor https://t.co/gguRNM5NDh—
Sydette Cosmic Dreaded Gorgon Clydesdale
(@Blackamazon) July 13, 2023
Modern business isn't realistic. You can't have ever increasing growth indefinitely.
Shareholders, boards, and CEOs need to learn to accept making reliable money instead of All the Money— Judge Zedd (@EsserZed) July 13, 2023
Also Read:
Two Strikes and You’re Out – Writers Await Actors’ Arrival on the Picket Lines
