Abigail Disney Goes Off On Disney Furloughs: “What The Actual F–k?????”

Abigail Disney posted a 25-tweet thread ripping the Walt Disney Co.’s plan to furlough 100,000 workers, mostly in its theme park division, in a move she says is about preserving executive bonuses and shareholder dividends.

“What the actual f–k?????” she wondered in one of the initial tweets kicking off the thread, which is pinned to the top of her account. Alluding to an estimate of the shareholder dividend from a recent Financial Times article Disney wrote that $1.5 billion would “pay for three months salary to front line workers. And its going to people who have already been collecting egregious bonuses for years.” She described the idea of paying bonuses during the pandemic as “the REAL outrage.”

Abigail Disney is the grand-daughter of Roy O. Disney, who co-founded the company with his younger brother, Walt. A documentary filmmaker, philanthropist and activist, she has been a frequent critic of executive compensation and the treatment of employees at the company.

“I’ve been holding my tongue on the theory that a pandemic is no time to be calling people out on anything other than failing us in a public health sense,” Disney tweeted. “I thought it might be a moment for peace and reconciliation. But I feel a thread coming on …”

Disney has been disproportionately ravaged by the virus, which has shut down its theme parks, hotels and cruise ships. No live sports are being played, which has hit ESPN and ABC during a season when they would ordinarily be reaping big ratings from the NBA playoffs. And theatrical moviegoing has ground to a halt.

The amount and timing of Disney’s next semi-annual dividend will be determined by the board and announced in June.

“Disney faces a rough couple of years, to be sure,” Disney tweeted. “The challenges are existential, even. But that does not constitute permission to continue pillaging and rampaging by management.”

A Disney spokesperson did not immediately return Deadline’s request for comment.

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