Undercover investigator James O’Keefe has taken on some big targets in his time, but a video that went live on social media this week sheds a new light on one of the country’s most influential corporations.
In a video captured by an O’Keefe operative, a Disney executive explains the company has corporate culture aimed at discriminating against white men.
And as a white man himself, the Disney veteran said, he’s been told the truth bluntly.
The Disney executive is Michael Giordano, identified by O’Keefe as a “vice president of business affairs.” The Disney news-centric website Inside the Magic identifies him as the president of the company’s 20th Century Television division.
(His LinkedIn profile has either been made private or deleted. It identified him, according to an O’Keefe screen shot, as “Senior Vice President and Team Lead, Business Affairs, 20th Century Television at The Walt Disney Company.” In short, he wasn’t a summer intern.)
BREAKING: Senior Vice President at The Walt Disney Company details discriminatory hiring practices: “Nobody else is going to tell you this, but they’re not considering any white males for the job,” says Michael Giordano, a Vice President of Business affairs, “there’s no way we’re… pic.twitter.com/IMOsFOLKro
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) June 20, 2024
The videos show Giordano in a social setting, over drinks, talking about the Disney world — and it’s a small-minded world after all.
“Certainly, there have been times where, ‘there’s no way we’re hiring a white male for this,’” Giordano told an O’Keefe operative — a woman judging by the voice.
Do you like Disney?
When the operative suggested the company’s policy was “unspoken,” Giordano clarified.
“There are times when it’s spoken,” he said.
He acknowledged the company chose its words carefully when speaking to outsiders — like agents of talent — but internally it’s a different story.
Giordano said he has friends who work in Disney’s human resources offices who have told him point-blank his sex and his race limit his advancement.
“I’ve been at the company for 11 years now, so I have friends in HR,” he told the O’Keefe operative. “And they’re like, ‘Nobody is going to tell you this, Mike, but they’re not considering any white males for this job. They’re just not.”
The undoubtedly bad PR that’s going to arise from the O’Keefe sting is just the latest round of it for Disney, which has established a reputation for being “woke” that stands out even in the leftist world of American entertainment.
From the company’s battles with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over laws passed by the state’s elected representatives, to its willful insertion of LGBT material into productions meant for the mainstream American public, Disney has stood out. (The clash with DeSantis ended badly for Disney. The gay push hasn’t helped business much, either.)
That must have made it an inviting target for O’Keefe, who has built a career taking on some of the largest leftists institutions in American business politics and culture, such as Planned Parenthood, the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, and IBM, to name just a few.
Now, with a video that appears to offer a look at the internal machinations of the darling of the left that is Disney, O’Keefe is also offering a look at what the left is doing to American culture.
And for many, it no doubt simply confirmed what they already believed.
This is evil. This is racist. These are Liberals.
— Bruce Ballou (@_BruceBane) June 20, 2024
“This is evil. This is racist. These are liberals,” as one commenter wrote.
Disney-centric blog “World of Reel” is reporting that Giordano has taken “a leave of absence” after those comments became public. The blog — apparently run by an insider — claims “I’d be shocked if they don’t just quietly fire him for these comments.”
