In season two of Succession, Logan Roy remarks that it was “time for a blood sacrifice.” A “blood sacrifice” in business is someone that takes the fall for a controversy or unsuccessful performance with the hopes of saving someone else.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek needed a blood sacrifice.
Geoff Morrell was the blood sacrifice for Disney’s Florida controversy.
Geoff Morrell joined Disney as its Chief Corporate Affairs Officer and only lasted a few months.
Morell’s exit comes at a time when Disney CEO Bob Chapek is trying to navigate himself out of constant controversy in hopes of getting that contract extension. Geoff Morrell was one of Chapek’s big first hires of his era, and it also becomes another highlight of his rocky tenure.
Geoff Morrell probably wasn’t the right strategic fit for Disney, and even Morrell admits it in his farewell memo. A funny example of Morrell not being the right strategic fit is when he revealed Cosmic Rewind’s opening date long before the company wanted that to be revealed. Also, according to Business Insider ahead of his exit from the company, Morrell met with former Disney CEO Michael Eisner to discuss navigating the politics at Disney.
Morrell is a conservative. Chapek’s chief of staff Arthur Bochner is also conservative. Bochner worked in many positions under former President George W. Bush. The perception since Morrell’s hire was that the Disney brain trust was conservative and was going to change the company’s culture. But now the conservatives are mad at Disney, due to Chapek flip-flopping on his response to Florida and the Parental Rights bill — or dubbed as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
Chapek’s original memo to cast members about how often political statements tend to get weaponized was constructed by Morrell. The ironic part was that Morrell/Chapek ended up being right as that statement (or memo) was weaponized, and both sides of the political aisle ended up beefing with Disney.
Chapek knew what occurred could’ve been all avoided. Just look at Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal, they never released any statements on the pieces of legislation coming out of Florida. They also run a pretty massive theme park operation in Florida. Nobody in the media even pressed Comcast on it either. It was just Disney who was getting pressed because they decided to change their strategy. So, Morrell being the blood sacrifice in all of this makes logical sense. Morrell allegedly got paid many millions to go away.
Morrell’s duties were split upon his departure. That Disney even needed to split his duties shows that maybe his position may have been too powerful and encompassing. Morrell’s duties were taken up by a former member of the Biden administration Kristina Schake and Disney’s general counsel Horacio Gutierrez. Schake will handle Disney’s communications efforts. Gutierrez will handle Government Relations and Global Public Policy.
Morrell is just another highlight of Chapek’s rocky tenure. Yet, his time on the job just goes to show how good Zenia Mucha was at her job as Disney’s Chief Communications Officer. Mucha during her tenure kept both Disney and former CEO Bob Iger out of controversy whether it was political or involved a valuable star.
After Morrell’s exit, a couple of thoughts continue to linger. Will there be more blood sacrifices at Disney? Who else could potentially take the fall? Is there some corporate backstabbing in Burbank all in the name of succession? The next few months will be crucial to the future of Disney as it approaches its milestone century celebration.
Who’s leading that milestone century celebration still remains to be seen.
Zach Perilstein is the Editor-in-Chief of the Boardwalk Times
