‘I Can’t Explain Bob Iger’s Thinking.’ Disney Employees Sound Off On Company Layoffs

Earlier this year, when Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that the Walt Disney Company would be laying off thousands of employees, it was a bit of an abstract. After all, what do 7,000 employees look like? But now that the layoffs are complete, we are starting to see the real human consequences of all these terminations.

Related: Disney/ESPN Exec. Let Go After 43 Years While Wife Battles Cancer

The first round of Iger’s layoffs brought the former-CEO Bob Chapek era to a close. Iger used those layoffs to end Disney’s meta division and fired several loyal employees to Chapek. But those names weren’t as well known to the general public as some that have come recently.

The last round of layoffs came at Disney-owned ESPN. And with those layoffs came several on-air talents that people knew. Among those fired by Disney were NBA analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Jalen Rose, boxing analyst Max Kellerman, NFL analysts Steve Young and Keyshawn Johnson, and female journalism pioneer Suzy Kolber.

Now the remaining ESPN personalities are taking stock of what happened and are critical of the decision to fire so much on-air talent at the network.

Paul Finebaum said on the Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast:

It’s pretty tough, and I say that loving my job and loving the company. But it was the worst day in my 10 years at ESPN. I can’t explain Bob Iger’s thinking. I think you have to trust his track record, but it doesn’t really excuse the state of mind that a lot of us, if not all of us, were in. And I say as an employee nobody knew Friday. Especially those of us who were on the air whether we would be around at the end of the day. 

Disney most famous employee this side of Mickey Mouse, Stephen A. Smith, also had a harsh reaction to the layoffs, saying on his show, First Take:

 They deserved better than the times we’re living in. This ain’t the end, more is coming, And yes, ladies and gentlemen, I could be next.

Bob Iger has fired over 7,000 workers as part of Disney’s cuts. The cuts have affected most aspects of Disney, except Cast Members in Disney Parks. The cuts were meant to save the company more than $5.5 billion. But now we are seeing that these mass layoffs affect morale at the Walt Disney Company.

We will continue to update this story at Disney Fanatic.