Executives at the Walt Disney Company argued that the storied brand has sweeping race-based hiring practices but uses coded language to avoid responsibility.
In a series of undercover videos produced by investigative journalist James O’Keefe’s O’Keefe Media Group, Disney Senior Vice President Michael Giordano detailed a series of questionable hiring practices and beliefs that have taken root at the company.
Giordano told the undercover reporter that diversity, equity and inclusion efforts have permeated the upper echelons, including to CEO Bob Iger.
“Do you think Bob has a say in diversity when it comes to casting?” the reporter asked.
“100 percent. He’s given the directive, ‘I want all of my shows to be fully diverse,'” the executive said.
“I think there’s definitely a belief that it’s a good thing for society.”
Iger said in April 2024 that Disney doesn’t target its content with any kind of messaging. He noted that the company tries to reach a “diverse audience,” saying some viewers can be “averse to certain things,” adding that Disney needs to be more sensitive to the interests of a broader audience.
Perhaps the latter is a coded term that indicates a company’s DEI beliefs.
Giordano is Undercover Video Diversity “is something that’s at the forefront sometimes. … A lot of times, shows are casting and you think, ‘Yeah, certain people aren’t going to be in it.’
The reporter then asked whether Disney tends to “only look for diverse candidates for certain roles.”
“Sometimes, yes,” Giordano replied. “I think there’s certainly a belief that it’s good for society, but there’s also a belief that, ‘If we appeal to a broader demographic, we’ll make more money, and that’s good.’ We have shareholders, and diversity helps with that.”
“They’re being very careful about how they get their message across because they don’t want to be accused of discrimination in either direction.”
As an example of the company’s obsession with skin color and employees’ appearance, Giordano cited the anecdote of one executive who was of black descent but wasn’t hired because he didn’t look noticeably black.
“We had a department a few years ago that wanted to hire someone who was of black descent but didn’t look black, and a creative exec was like, ‘That’s not what we want.’ They wanted someone who looked a certain way in meetings, and he wouldn’t bring that up.”
Giordano then alleged that the company was treating mixed race people unfairly.
“If you’re mixed, you don’t look black at all. That happens sometimes. And they’re like, ‘Oh I don’t know.’ But if you’re mixed, and you know you’ve got a little bit of black blood in you, but you’re not that black, then okay. That’s weird,” he argued.
The executive also said the company is being very careful about the language it uses to avoid lawsuits for discriminatory practices.
“They’re very careful about getting their message across because they don’t want to be sued for discrimination in either direction, but there were certainly times when they were like, we can’t hire a white guy for this.”
He added that the company would be very careful about how it conveyed this message to investigators, and might tell them, for example, that it wasn’t looking for “the usual suspects.”
Giordano said he is a half-step below a division head and, although he has his own team within The Walt Disney Company, he does not oversee an entire division.
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