Ex-Disney CEO REVEALS Rumor Bob Iger Knew COVID Was Coming

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Patrick Bet-David (0:30)

So, February 25, 2020, you take over, then the CNBC interview happens. Weeks after that, it's Covid. Now, it's already in Covid, but it gets pretty nasty. Covid, you got shutting down the park. I'm in LA, actually, at the Beverly Hills Hilton, when Disney shut down. Could have been March 12, 13, 14, something like that, because we were going to take the family there. June 28, 2022, Disney unanimously extends Chapek's contracts, right? Saying, hey, you're the guy, she talks to you, you're ours, we like you, you're, you know, we're picking you.

And then board says, you know, you don't talk to Bob Iger enough. This is the whole session that they're going back and forth. You should call him more often. You said, I talked to him 30 minutes to 45 minutes every day. Then on November 20, 2022, the board announced Chapek was out, Iger was back, they blocked your email. You couldn't even send one last email to the people you were working with. One of your generals, Kareem Daniel, which I mentioned earlier, chief of staff, Arthur Bachner and assistant Jackie Hart, they're out, Iger was back and you were done. This timeline that the average person sees, how fast did this timeline go by for you?

Bob Chapek (1:40)

That timeline between the time that I got the extension, another three extensions, seemed like an eternity. It didn't go by fast because not only was I dealing with trying to bring the company back from the pandemic, where we have almost all of our revenue streams shut down, but I'm also trying to launch a brand new growth business for the company, which is streaming, which is, you know, we're only a decade behind Netflix. And, but it's going very well, but taking sniper fire, friendly sniper fire at the same time, which was not helpful.

So, you know, you might think I would say, well, the time between the extension and the fateful November Day was quick. It wasn't. It felt like it was an eternity.

Patrick Bet-David (2:30)

It felt like an eternity.

Bob Chapek (2:31)

It felt like an eternity.

Patrick Bet-David (2:32)

So you said something in the book, which was very interesting. You said some people told you, and I'm curious who these people are, that Bob knew Covid was coming and he was setting you up. He was almost setting you up for you to fall. What did you mean by that?

Bob Chapek (2:49)

Well, I didn't exactly say it that way. What I said was people volunteered to me that he likely knew, in their opinion, that he likely knew more than the average Joe did about a pandemic being around the corner. I don't know if that's true or not, because you'd have to ask him. He denied that Covid was ever an element in his resignation when he resigned. But I heard it one time, and I completely disregarded it. I heard it a second time, and I was like, God, that's funny. I heard that again. Heard it about five times.

Patrick Bet-David (3:26)

From credible heavyweights?

Bob Chapek (3:28)

Credible heavyweights, credible heavyweights.

Patrick Bet-David (3:32)

From Disney or even outside?

Bob Chapek (3:33)

Outside Disney, outside Disney. I don't want to go any further with it. But suffice to say that, like, wow, you know, and by the way, it may not be true. I don't know. May not be true. But this is what outsiders told me, is that there was some awareness there. And, you know, if Bob's one thing, he's a great executive, a lot of success, very, very excellent leader, very excellent executive. But he also really protects his image very carefully.

And I'm sure if, if he had awareness, that, you know, what I eventually had to do was lay off 110,000 people out of 200,000, would not be high on his list. Now, again, that may be circumstantial. But I'm just saying there was enough people. My dad used to say, where there's smoke, there's fire.

And a lot of smoke. But again, I don't know if that's true. And he's denied it. But the timing is curious because it was so fast.