Should Casey Wasserman heed the call to step down as LA28 Olympics committee chairman, don’t go knocking on Bob Iger’s door.
The outgoing Disney CEO is not interested in the gig, despite some wish-casting online, TheWrap has exclusively learned. He has not officially been approached about the opportunity to lead the committee, but he would not accept the offer if he were, an individual familiar with Iger’s thinking said.
Iger will pass the Disney CEO baton to Josh D’Amaro in March, and will continue to serve as Senior Advisor and a member of the Disney Board until he retires from the company in December.
Speculation of who may step in as LA28 chairman swirled amid mounting calls for Wasserman to step down after his personal relationship with imprisoned sex offender and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell was made public earlier this year. Racy emails between the embattled media mogul and Maxwell were laid bare in the latest batch of several million Epstein-related emails and documents dropped by the Department of Justice on Jan. 30.
In the wake of that release, about two dozen clients, including Grammy winner Chappell Roan and soccer star Abby Wambach, left Wasserman’s namesake agency. Many others spoke out against CEO, but expressed a reluctance to cut ties in fear of causing undue harm to their agents and representatives.
Then, after a week of TheWrap’s exclusive reporting on inner turmoil at the Wasserman agency and on the Friday night before Valentine’s Day, Wasserman announced in an internal memo that he intended to sell his stake in the company. Later that weekend, TheWrap reported that Wasserman would change its name after its founder’s exit.
But Wasserman stands unscathed as the leader of the LA28 Olympics committee, representing the city ahead of the 2028 Games despite calls for his resignation from thousands of petitioners and locally elected officials all the way up to Mayor Karen Bass. All that after the LA28 board — which consists of figures like Jeffrey Katzenberg, Jeanie Buss, Kevin McCarthy and Jessica Alba — continued to stand with Wasserman.
“I think that decision was unfortunate,” Mayor Bass told CNN’s Dana Bash last week of the organizers’ loyalty. “I don’t support the decision. I do think that we need to look at the leadership.”
She added: “I cannot fire him, but I have an opinion. And my opinion is that he should step down. That’s not the opinion of the board.”
As pressure against Wasserman’s position in LA28 continues to build, we at least know that in Iger, there’s one less viable candidate to step into the role.
