It could be his dream gig! It certainly would match his core competencies: kowtowing to Chinese communists. Former Disney CEO and current Disney Executive chairman Bob Iger is up for the post as U.S. ambassador to China.
The Hill reported on December 16 that Biden is eyeing Iger for the government position dealing with the Chinese Communist government, stating, “that Iger is being considered to be Biden's ambassador to China or possibly the U.K.” This of course would make “him one of the most important members of Biden's diplomatic team.”
This role is a perfect fit for Iger, whose company kisses up to the CCP regularly for the sake of profiting from the Asian giant’s massive box office. What's worse is that Disney is so gung-ho about its relationship with China that it has prioritized the country’s communist values over ours, and ignored the government’s human rights abuses. Perhaps there’s a conflict of interest here.
Furthermore, Iger, while being a huge proponent of the Biden presidency -- he donated massive amounts of money to the Biden 2020 Campaign -- is a vocal critic of President Trump and his policies. It’s clear that Iger as a future diplomat to China would contribute to a softening of Trump’s tough rhetoric on the U.S.’s chief geo-political rival. “With both countries [China & U.K] currently involved in trade negotiations with the U.S.,” Iger as ambassador would have a big say in how all that shakes out.
Again, it helps to reiterate just how soft Disney, under Iger, was when it came to China. Honestly, compared to the company’s personal disdain for conservative U.S. policies and a tolerance for Chinese human rights abuses, it seemed to amount to special treatment for the Communist government.
Historically, Disney’s business model with China included altering elements of its films in order to appease cultural hardlines imposed by CCP censors. Where American audiences have been inundated with Disney’s socially liberal propaganda, they’ve removed such content for Chinese audiences. Disney and other studios’ accession to Chinese dictates has even drawn the ire of the U.S. Department of Justice at the behest of free speech groups, which have recognized Disney as one of the U.S. film studios that “compete for the opportunity to access Chinese audiences, many are making difficult and troubling compromises on free expression.”
In another instance of Disney prioritizing the Chinese government ideas at the expense of American ideas of freedom, the company refused to comment on, much less punish the star of their Mulan remake for praising CCP police in their tyrannical crackdown of the free people of Hong Kong. Americans and Hong Kong citizens called on Disney to distance themselves from the actress’ comments, but they kept quiet.
In an even more flagrant instance of Disney sucking up to China, Disney went ahead and thanked Chinese officials for allowing them to produce Mulan in Xinjiang Province, the same province that has overseen a brutal persecution of Uighur muslims. But when Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia in the U.S. signed an anti-abortion “heartbeat bill” in 2019, Iger railed against the state and threatened to boycott his company’s film productions in the state. Quite the double standard.
Again Iger is also a huge critic of President Trump’s policies. The Hill reminded readers that the former Disney CEO publicly clashed with Trump over him pulling from the Paris Climate Accord. Still no heavy criticism of China. It’s this kind of double standard that one could expect from an Iger ambassadorship to China. Hell, what would he do on the job? Encourage Chinese sanctions on our country?
