Rumor: Civil War Raging Within Disney's C-Suite as Dana Walden Pushes Politics Over Profits

Walden is a longtime associate of Kamala Harris.

Back in February of this year, longtime Disney CEO Bob Iger retired and was replaced by two people: Josh D'Amaro as CEO and Dana Walden as President and CCO. D'Amaro was formerly the Experiences Chairman, while Walden was Entertainment Co-Chairman prior to their new positions within the company. Walden, however, also has some pretty heavy connection to the Democrats, specifically former Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris. The two have been friends for years, and it's alleged that when Disney was mulling over Iger's replacement, they were hesitant to make Walden outright CEO of the company because of that relationship and the potential for backlash from the Trump administration.

Flash forward almost five months and the two have settled into seemingly opposing views on how the Walt Disney Company should be run. Disney is the umbrella for a number of different ventures besides all things Mickey Mouse. Within the larger structure of Disney resides ESPN, ABC, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and more, and this isn't lost on Walden. Rumor has it that Walden has been using her power as President and CCO to reposition Disney and its businesses as political vehicles for promoting far-left politicking and activism, while CEO D'Amaro is more focused on returning Disney to profitability.

In recent times, a number of stories came to light revealing a pivot away from far-left progressive messaging in Disney films and shows. Pixar's Elio was apparently overhauled to removed so-called queer coding following negative test screenings of the original vision for the film. Even before that, controversial DEI initiatives were dropped by the company in an effort to appease the White House. However, one of the major inflection points for Disney in the culture wars was the controversy over the suspension of the eponymous host of Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Kimmel made waves when he falsely claimed to his audience the following:

We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.

This was demonstrably untrue and got not just the public in an uproar, but also big time ABC affiliates like Sinclair and Nexstar, which were going to refuse to air Kimmel's show if Disney didn't remove the controversial host. Kimmel served a five-day suspension but was ultimately reinstated following huge pressure from within Hollywood to return the host to his role. Walden was allegedly instrumental in influencing Iger to give Kimmel his show back at the time.

As D'Amaro took over, pundits felt that Wall Street was starting to put pressure on Disney to move away from politics and refocus on entertainment, and more importantly, making money. And for a time it looked like things might be heading in that direction. Along with the changes mentioned above, Disney has also made concerted efforts with the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday to return to characters that fans know and love, while Star Wars was pushing to do something similar with the abortive Mandalorian and Grogu. While the company's moves are still in play, and some haven't quite worked out, the impression was that Disney's focus was back to profits.

Enter Walden, who is rumored to be working to make Disney sharply pivot right back to politicking. Longtime Trump critic Rosie O'Donell will be filling in for Jimmy Kimmel over the summer; The View is in the midst of a battle with the FCC; a source inside Disney is claiming that Walden has assembled a team within the company to back her as she green lights as many progressive, far-left bits of programming that she can. D'Amaro now finds himself in a challenging position, as it would likely be quite difficult to remove Walden for political reasons (both in terms of Hollywood and the Democrats), but to do nothing might court the ire of Wall Street.

As Americans continue to show disdain for Hollywood's attempts at pushing far-left activism and messaging in the bulk of its offerings to the public, it's a potentially disastrous time for Walden to make this move, if the rumor is true. Supergirl fizzled out of the gates this past weekend; the failure of Mando and Grogu; no guarantee that Doomsday will be a hit, let alone reignite interest in the franchise; these are all indicators that the public's patience with big corporate Hollywood is at an all-time low. Will D'Amaro allow Walden to push Disney firmly back into politicking or will he keep the company at the sensible center (as WDW Pro puts it)? We'll keep you all posted.

Source: WDW Pro YouTube Channel