I’ll admit, I’d find booing him in poor taste, regardless of what you (well, the collective you, not the you specifically) think of him.
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Agreed. Booing is just … not classy
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Well, maybe he was surprised by the event? It’s not like it has been on the schedule for a while….oh wait….
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Bahahaha!
Someone’s feisty today 
(I like it)
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I don’t know that I would boo. I think silence and laughter would be more effective but I believe there is a lot of anger?
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I feel bad for Chapek. Not in the sense of “boo hoo! let me go cry under a blanket of millions of dollars” but in the sense that he’s a human being, and even if he makes bad decisions, he doesn’t deserve to be vilified the way he has by some corners of the fanbase.
Don’t get me wrong, criticism is fair. But scapegoating and derogatory comments are not. I don’t mean to imply anyone here is doing that, btw, but articles like the WDWNT one feed the frenzy.
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Oh there is a LOT of anger.
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But he is the face of the company. He is the one everyone looks to for accountability regarding the direction in which the company is going. And right now a lot of people are very unhappy with that direction. So it falls on him.
Big dollars come with his job. So does big responsibility and being the one who takes the heat when things go wrong.
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I WOULD have believed the WDWNT story had they not included the following:
It became most clear that Chapek could not appear in front of Disney fans after his brief meet and greet with guests on October 1st at the Magic Kingdom. While some asked the CEO for a quick pic, others heckled him from afar over budget cuts, mass layoffs, and the “nickel-and-diming” that have been a hallmark of his regime as either the head of the theme parks division or now the entire company. Once the heckling started, Chapek bolted from the scene to a backstage area. That being said, he’s never been one for public appearances or for actually greeting guests, often making brief on-stage appearances and then leaving as quickly as possible after a photo or video is taken.
I was there. NO ONE was heckling him vocally. In fact, it was the direct opposite. Something I had noted in my trip report. I was actually surprised and a little annoyed that people were singing his praises.
Ergo…I have a tough time believing ANY of their conclusions are accurate on this and I am siding with Disney on this one: a conflict popped up that prevents him from appearing. Might be as simple as “I don’t wanna”. But that’s it.
This article reads like a Highschool gossip column.“OMG didja hear y Bobby ain’t going 2 D23s party?! He’s SCARED! lololololol”
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I agree, I just think that some people take “accountability” too far into smearing a person personally. It comes with the territory, but in an ideal world it shouldn’t.
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Hmm. I’m almost certain one of the vloggers I watched who was there as well mentioned this happening. So, perhaps it was a matter of being in earshot?
I dunno, I was 15 feet from the man. Can’t be closer in ear shot than what I was cause there was nothing but a crowd around him.
And I have pretty good hearing(Especially when I’m listening for something specific to a point I need to make sure my mind didn’t artificially add it).
Not one person said anything negative. They were saying "Thank you"s and "great job"s and the like (and no, not sarcastically) It was surprising, I was expecting jeers, not cheers.
Interesting. Was there possibly more than one meet and greet with him?
Don’t think so? He was in the garden area where they put you for the fireworks dessert party and then from there it was a direct shot out through Tomorrowland Terrace or the run off exit.
Last I saw him he was heading towards the exit, I had lost interest at that point as the crowd was clearly not rising to slay him.
And, actually, when I read the wording carefully, there…it IMPLIES he bolted DUE to the heckling, but what it actually says is that he bolted once the heckling started, which leaves open the possibility that his “bolting” had nothing to do with the heckling mentioned, and it was merely a timing coincidence. So, perhaps there was heckling from afar (as it says), but that Chapek was simply done with the crowds and wanted to leave.
I was still pretty pissed at the lack of pomp from the morning, so I was definitely listening for something.
As it was, there was nothing. Not even a “You suck!” which is “baby’s first heckle” level, but still…
This exactly- he is the face of the company and this is a pretty big deal…people attending this event are heading to panels to find out what’s upcoming with the company…
Him not showing is IMO as much of a snub as to the statements about the value of AP holders, lol this after the comment about waistlines- not feeling the love
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I’m not doubting your account at all. Just trying to reconcile accounts, since the vlogger indicated some kind of negative comments were being made. It makes me think the “heckling from afar” really was from so far away it probably wasn’t audible to those closer, and likely not audible to Chapek himself…which does mean that the article, even if “technically” accurate, is misrepresenting things.
The only thing that I can think of is someone misunderstanding a question with a heckle? Though I didn’t hear “questions from a far” though. But maybe someone treated it like a press conference and vlogger thinks it means it’s heckling?
like I said, they were clapping for him. ACTUAL APPLAUSE. And not just a single person either, there were SEVERAL people doing that.