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Iger, Eisner, and Why Disney Finally Stood Up to Trump

Amid the backlash to the Jimmy Kimmel debacle, Disney’s former chairman and C.E.O. Michael Eisner broke his long silence on X with a scathing rebuke of Bob Iger. Did the drive-by contribute to today’s abrupt resolution?

Michael Eisner, Bob Iger
Of all the backlash this past week, perhaps the Eisner drive-by stung the most. An old Disney hand told me that Iger “loathes Eisner, who tortured and humiliated him in the C.E.O. succession process,” but that doesn’t mean Iger can just shake it off when Eisner calls him out. Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Kim Masters
September 22, 2025

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I thought it was fake. Having covered Disney for many years, and having written a book focused on its former chairman and C.E.O. Michael Eisner, I would never have imagined that, at age 83 and about 20 years to the day since he exited the Magic Kingdom, he would bestir himself to post a tweet smiting his successor, Bob Iger, during the most epic shitstorm of Iger’s second tenure. And it seems Eisner’s missive may have landed with the current Disney leader, contributing to today’s resolution of the nearly weeklong Jimmy Kimmel standoff.