Abigail Disney Criticizes Disney’s Choice To Furlough Low-Paid Workers After Paying Off Dividends And Executive Bonuses

Abigail Disney is criticizing the Walt Disney Company for paying its executives’ bonuses and dividends while cutting more than 100,000 workers’ pay amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Abigail, an American filmmaker, is also the heir to the Walt Disney fortune and the granddaughter of the company’s co-founder Roy Disney. On Tuesday, Abigail let loose and expressed her disappointment in Walt Disney’s mistreatment of its employees. “OK, I’ve been holding my tongue on the theory that a pandemic is no time to be calling people out on anything other than failing us in a public health sense.  I thought it might be a moment for peace and reconciliation,” said Abigail of the company’s decision to furlough theme park employees’ in a retweeted post.

She continued: “That’d pay for three months’ salary to frontline workers,” she said. “And it’s going to people who have already been collecting egregious bonuses for years. Dividends aren’t all bad, given the number of fixed-income folks who rely on them. But still, 80 percent of shares are owned by the wealthiest 10 percent. Pay the people who make the magic happen with respect and dignity; they have more than earned from you. This company must do better.”

OK, I've been holding my tongue on the theory that a pandemic is no time to be calling people out on anything other than failing us in a public health sense. I thought it might be a moment for peace and reconciliation. But I feel a thread coming on….1/ https://t.co/G1mUq7RmAV

— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) April 21, 2020

Earlier this month, the Walt Disney Company announced it would be furloughing employees “whose jobs aren’t necessary at this time.” Disney has been forced to close theme parks and other businesses amid the outbreak. CNN reports that more than 75 percent of the company’s 223,000 employees work for the Parks and Products division. In a tweet, Abigail called the salary of former Disney CEO Bob Iger “insane.” Iger, who still stands as the company’s chairman, made $47,525,560 last year despite his earnings being 911 times what the average Disney worker makes.

Now, Abigail is calling for some of the executives’ pay to go back to its employees. “What kind of person is comfortable with this???,” Abigail tweeted. “Disney faces a rough couple of years, to be sure,” she wrote. “But that does not constitute permission to continue pillaging and rampaging by management.” She ended her comments, saying that she will speak up for those who feel they can’t. “I’m just a citizen who cares, and I think that makes me free to say what I believe. But I am an heir. And I do carry this name with me everywhere. And I have a conscience which makes it very difficult for me to sit by when I see abuses taking place with that name attached to them,” said Abigail.

CEO Bob Chapek cut his pay by 50 percent, and Iger recently said he would forgo all of his salary during the pandemic.