After Dropping $105 Million of Disney, South Carolina Treasurer Says it Has ‘Structural Rot’

Last week, South Carolina State Treasurer Curtis Loftis announced that the state would no longer invest in the Walt Disney Company. When he announced, he cited Disney’s “woke” agenda and “far-left activism.” South Carolina owns $105 million in Disney debt instruments that it does not plan on replacing after it comes due. The debt instrument is a bond that Disney uses to improve its theme parks. And now, South Carolina will not invest in Disney anymore.

Related: South Carolina Joins Florida in $105 Million Blow to ‘Woke’ Disney.

Loftis explained his thinking to Fox Business News, telling the network that there is “structural rot” inside Disney. He said: 

I think it’s clear to anybody paying attention that there’s a structural rot inside of Disney. It’s deep, it’s pervasive, and I suspect Bob Iger, since his return as the CEO, now realizes it can’t be fixed.

Loftis’ criticism of Disney CEO Bob Iger mirrors that of X (formerly Twitter) CEO Elon Musk, who said last week that Iger should be “fired immediately” and that “Walt Disney was rolling over in his grave.”

One of the contributing factors for Loftis was Disney’s embrace of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing, which is a way for socially conscious investors to determine if they want to invest in a particular company. However, the Walt Disney Company has told investors it will not reach its ESG goals.

Related: Disney is Accused of Being ‘Woke,’ What Exactly Does That Mean? 

But Loftis’ most significant complaint with Disney is the company’s embrace of diverse characters in its films and television shows. Loftis said:

The sane, sober, talented, mature people are gone, and now you have the gender studies crowd running Disney. That’s why their movies are flops and their market cap, I think, is about half what it used to be. It’s a tremendous loss to America, we all grew up on Disney.

But the South Carolina state treasurer admitted that taking the state’s money out of Disney’s debt won’t change Disney’s political agenda, nor will it affect its bottom line. With the Walt Disney Company worth billions, there are plenty of other investors to take up the loss of a minor investment.

In a separate interview with Fox Business, Loftis said:

We’re not going to cause Disney any real harm. I just want other people to see that you can stand up to these people and you live to invest another day. There are plenty of good investments out there that aren’t as risky as Disney.

Disney had $21.2 billion in revenue for the third quarter of 2023, so this will be a blip on its radar.

We will continue to update this story at Disney Fanatic.