Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek claims his predecessor-turned-successor Bob Iger underwent a “relentless three-year campaign to push me out” after initially appointing him to the job.
“The way Disney’s board and Bob Iger handled my firing made it seem as if I had committed some terrible offense,” Chapek writes in an excerpt from his upcoming book “Behind the Castle Walls,” which was published by Vanity Fair Thursday. “To outsiders, it looked suspicious—who gets ousted on a Sunday, right before a company’s big event, unless they’re guilty of something?”
Chapek took over the Disney CEO job in February 2020 — as Iger’s hand-picked successor. But in November 2022, the Disney board ousted Chapek after a series of missteps and called Iger back into service. (Iger stepped down as CEO this March, replaced by former parks head Josh D’Amaro.)
“From the moment he announced my appointment, he clearly regretted it and seemed to initiate a relentless three-year campaign to push me out,” Chapek writes of Iger. “From day one as CEO, I had respected the board’s decision to have him remain as executive chairman, directing creative endeavors and overseeing the transition until late 2021. I’d always made it clear I had big shoes to fill. But I’d never expected to endure a drawn-out, purposeful undoing of my leadership.”
Disney declined to comment Thursday. Iger declined to comment via a representative at Thrive Capital, where Iger is now a partner.
Disney insiders are said to view Chapek’s book as a “revisionist” account of the events that transpired.
Published by Simon & Schuster, “Behind the Castle Walls” is set to release Sept. 29. While Chapek is making the rounds promoting the book with today’s Vanity Fair excerpt and an interview published by the Wall Street Journal Wednesday, according to industry sources, the title remains in stiff competition with Wall Street Journal reporter Robbie Whelan’s upcoming unauthorized “The House of Mouse: Bob Iger and The War of Succession at Disney,” which is slated for release on Dec. 1, 2026.
In the new book excerpt, Chapek goes on to recall a story from Iger’s retirement party in which Chapek claims he was the butt of a “snide” joke about his upbringing in Indiana and then overlooked when it came time for Iger to conclude his speech by passing the torch.
“He continued, going through the next few phases of his career, but still had yet to mention anything about his eventual replacement,” Chapek wrote. “It was a retirement party after all. Eventually, he got to the end, and I braced myself for what was next. ‘And as I come to this point in my career where I’m ready now to, you know, move on to my next chapter . . .’ he said as his voice trailed off. He stopped again, turned, and then abruptly declared, ‘You know what? I think I’ve said enough. Thank you very much. Good night.’ I mean, literally, there wasn’t a head that didn’t turn around and look at me like, Oh my God, he just literally blew you off. That moment encapsulates how Iger treated our professional transition. He could have said, I turn the reins over to my successor, and I wish him all the luck in the world. That’s all he had to say. It didn’t need to be an endorsement. It just didn’t need to be venomous. He couldn’t even stay neutral. That proved too much for him. He had to disrespect me and my background.”
Chapek also claims that while he worked to “ensure the company survived the COVID shutdown under the crushing debt of a newly minted and exorbitant Fox deal,” Iger “seemed to spend his time finding ways to politically outmaneuver and undermine me.” The ousted Disney CEO calls out the backlash over Disney’s position regarding the “Don’t Say Gay” bill as a particular instance in which he claims Iger tried to negatively impact Chapek’s image.
“He interjected himself publicly in a way that would of course blow up on me, as I believe it was intended to, in the company’s response to the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill,” Chapek wrote. “While I was under pressure to keep the company afloat with no revenue and mounting debt, he appeared to actively work against me. As I pushed for bold streaming strategies to transform Disney into a streaming media powerhouse, he fueled an ego-driven power struggle.”