Two former Disney chiefs are trading jabs again, and this time it’s through memoir excerpts and a carefully worded interview. Bob Chapek and Bob Iger, who both once held the top job at the entertainment giant, are now publicly accusing each other of sabotage and poor judgment. The fight has been brewing since Chapek’s abrupt firing in 2022, but this week it spilled into print.
Chapek is promoting his new memoir Behind The Castle Walls: My Thirty Years At The Happiest Place On Earth, and he’s not pulling punches. He claims Iger set him up to fail and hurt his reputation. Iger, for his part, responded with a subtle dig in an interview with the Harvard Business Review, where he framed the conversation around choosing a bad successor without ever mentioning Chapek by name. Both men are currently taking responsibility for Josh D’Amaro, Disney’s current hand-picked successor, even as they blame each other for the mess.
Chapek’s Memoir Excerpts
Chapek took over from Iger in 2020 when the latter stepped down for the first time. That lasted until 2022, when Chapek was abruptly fired and replaced by his old boss. Now, as he promotes the book, he’s rolling out excerpts that accuse Iger directly.
“My abrupt dismissal hurt my reputation, leaving those close to me, outsiders and some within the kingdom trying to figure out what I did wrong,” Chapek writes. “The answer, again, is nothing.” He also writes that Iger timed his first departure from Disney in February of 2020 specifically to get out ahead of getting blamed for the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on the company’s fortunes.
Chapek is not shy about calling himself a “disruptor” in the book. He says he was fired before he could see any of his big ideas through. His tenure drew plenty of flack, notably his handling of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which managed to offend both the left and the right at the same time.
Iger’s Indirect Subtweet
Iger responded with what amounts to an elaborate subtweet. In an interview with the Harvard Business Review on Thursday, he spoke about the dangers of picking a bad successor without ever mentioning Chapek by name.
“We had a process back in 2019 and ’20 when we chose my successor,” Iger said. “Looking back, perhaps it wasn’t as thorough as we thought, in part because we thought we knew the person extremely well.”
He then went on to read Chapek for filth in the most indirect way possible. “I don’t think people want fearless leaders, but they don’t want fearful leaders,” he noted. “They want somebody that’s going to show some vulnerability, but never show that they’re frightened. We didn’t ask ourselves those questions, though maybe it would have been premature to do so. This was before COVID hit, right before COVID hit, for instance.”
The interview is a masterclass in implication. Iger never says Chapek’s name, but the message is clear: the successor selection process was rushed, and the result was a disaster.
The D’Amaro Question
Both men are currently taking credit for Josh D’Amaro, Disney’s current hand-picked successor. Iger’s hand in his selection is obvious, but Chapek couldn’t help but stick his head in here too.
“I consistently suggested the idea of promoting him,” Chapek writes in the book. “He had been a relative unknown in the corporate hierarchy before I singled him out.”
The irony is rich. Chapek is claiming he pushed D’Amaro’s promotion while Iger is positioning himself as the one who picked the right successor. The two narratives cannot both be true, and neither man is letting the other tell the story.
The Timeline Of The Feud
The dispute traces back to Chapek’s 2020 appointment and his 2022 firing. Here’s how it unfolded:
- 2020: Iger steps down for the first time and hands the reins to Chapek.
- February 2020: Iger departs, reportedly to avoid blame for the pandemic’s effects on the company.
- 2022: Chapek is fired and replaced by Iger.
- Now: Chapek releases excerpts from his memoir, and Iger responds with a Harvard interview.
What Chapek Accuses Iger Of
Chapek’s book is full of accusations. He says Iger set him up to fail and hurt his reputation. He says Iger timed his departure to avoid blame for the pandemic. He says Iger didn’t know him as well as he thought.
The excerpts paint a picture of a man who feels betrayed. Chapek writes that his abrupt dismissal left people wondering what he did wrong, and his answer is simple: nothing. He was fired, he says, for doing nothing wrong.
What Iger Suggests About Chapek
Iger’s response is more measured. He speaks about the pitfalls of leadership succession without naming names. He says the process wasn’t thorough enough, and he wonders aloud whether they asked themselves the right questions.
His remarks about fearlessness are telling. He says people don’t want fearful leaders, but they don’t want fearless ones either. They want someone who shows vulnerability without showing fear. He then pivots to say that maybe it would have been premature to ask those questions, and that the timing was right before COVID hit.
The subtext is clear: Chapek was a bad call.
The Fight Continues
This is not the first time Chapek and Iger have traded blows in public. Their feud has been simmering since Chapek’s firing in 2022, but this week it boiled over into print. Chapek has a book to promote, and Iger has a Harvard interview to give. The stage is set for more rounds.
The key facts are simple:
- Chapek took over from Iger in 2020
- He was fired in 2022 and replaced by Iger
- Iger’s first departure came in February 2020
- D’Amaro is Iger’s second hand-picked successor
The fight is far from over. Chapek has his book, and Iger has his platform. The next round is likely to come soon.
The irony is that both men are currently taking credit for the same person. Iger picks the successor, and Chapek promoted him. The contradiction is delicious.
This fight is entertaining, but it’s also revealing. It shows how power operates in corporate America. When a leader falls, the blame game begins. Chapek says he was set up to fail. Iger says the process wasn’t thorough enough. The truth is probably somewhere in between.
For now, the public gets a show. Two former Disney chiefs are going after each other again.
See the video the story is built around at The A.V. Club.
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