Bob Chapek became the CEO of Disney in February 2020, and was ousted by the company board in November 2022|Walt Disney Television|CC BY-ND 2.0
Bob Chapek, who had a brief tenure as Disney CEO, is releasing a new memoir in which he accuses his predecessor and successor, Bob Iger, of orchestrating a “relentless three-year campaign to push me out.”
Chapek took the reins of the company in February 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, after Iger abruptly stepped down (but stayed on as executive chairman).
What followed was stronger growth in 2021, but parks and streaming services underperformed in 2022. The stock plunged 41% that year. Chapek also struggled to deal with controversies like the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and Scarlet Johansson’s lawsuit over Marvel Studios’ Black Widow.
In a Vanity Fair excerpt from Behind the Castle Walls: My Thirty Years at the Happiest Place on Earth, Chapek says the Disney board abruptly ousted him on a Sunday in November 2022, making it seem like “I had committed some terrible offense.” Iger was reappointed as CEO.
Chapek says it all ended with a phone call and that he wasn’t even given the opportunity to resign.
Insiders reportedly view the book as “revisionist,” though both Disney and Iger declined to comment.
The memoir is set for release on September 29 by Simon & Schuster. It arrives after Iger stepped down for a second time this March, passing the leadership role to former parks head Josh D’Amaro.