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.
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.
