The newly ousted chairman of Disney-owned Marvel Entertainment said he once contacted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to express his support for the Republican in his public feud with the Mouse House.
Ike Perlmutter, the 80-year-old billionaire executive who was ousted in the first wave of Disney’s recent layoffs, claims he was fired by the company due to his combative relationship with top brass.
The notoriously outspoken Perlmutter also revealed that he called DeSantis to voice his disagreement with Disney’s decision last year to publicly lobby against the DeSantis-backed Parental Rights in Education law, branded by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
“Ron, you’re right. Disney doesn’t have the right to get involved with politics,” Perlmutter said he told DeSantis on the phone call, according to the Wall Street Journal‘s report published Wednesday.
Perlmutter reportedly grew “frustrated” at Disney’s involvement in the spat with DeSantis over the law, which bars teachers in the state from discussing gender identity or sexual orientation with students below fourth grade.
The businessman said he told Disney executives not to “get involved in politics.”
“You’re going to get hurt. It’s a no-win situation,” Perlmutter said.
DeSantis launched an aggressive crackdown on Disney’s business within the state of Florida after the company waded into local politics. That effort culminated in a move to dissolve a Disney-controlled board in charge of the company’s special tax district and replace it with the governor’s handpicked officials.
Earlier this week, DeSantis ordered a state investigation after his new board discovered their predecessors approved an eleventh-hour development deal for Disney that effectively weakened their power.
Disney CEO Bob Iger fired back at DeSantis, accusing the governor of adopting a stance that was “anti-business” and “anti-Florida” while targeting the company.
The Post has reached out to DeSantis’ office and to Disney for comment.
Perlmutter said he was pushed out the door in part because he lobbied company leaders to cut back on spending on Marvel’s feature films, which, he argues, are too costly to produce.
“I have no doubt that my termination was based on fundamental differences in business between my thinking and Disney leadership, because I care about return on investment,” Perlmutter told the outlet.
Prior to his exit, Perlmutter held outsized influence at Disney due to his status as one of the entertainment giant’s largest individual shareholders. He owns a stake worth roughly $3 billion, according to the Journal.
Perlmutter will retain control of his shares despite losing his gig, Reuters reported this week.
Perlmutter oversaw Marvel’s comic-book publishing and merchandise-licensing business.
A Disney representative told the Journal that the company’s general counsel, Horacio Gutierrez, called Perlmutter to inform him that his job was being cut as part of a companywide savings drive.
Perlmutter pushed back on the company’s claim.
“It was merely a convenient excuse to get rid of a longtime executive who dared to challenge the company’s way of doing business,” he said.
Disney is planning to slash approximately 7,000 jobs as part of an effort to cut $5.5 billion in spending across its business.
Aside from his grumbling about Marvel’s spending, Perlmutter backed his friend, well-known activist investor Nelson Peltz, in his high-profile campaign to gain a seat on Disney’s board and enact changes to its operations.
Peltz later dropped the bid after Iger announced the layoffs and other cost-cutting moves.
“My experience with any major corporation, when they’re having problems and they don’t have the free cash or whatever it is, usually people like Nelson Peltz know how to put it back on track,” Perlmutter told the Journal.
“I learned one thing about creative people my whole life: You cannot give them an open credit card,” he added.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
