In His Own Words: Bob Chapek’s Last Day as Disney CEO

Bob Chapek says his last day as Disney CEO began with a Sunday message that Susan Arnold needed to talk to him that afternoon and ended with a phone call telling him the board had voted to remove him. Chapek recounts November 20th, 2022, in a chapter titled “Death on a Sunday” in his tell-all book, Behind the Castle Walls, which was released on September 29th. He says the call came a couple of hours before Elton John’s farewell concert at Dodger Stadium, an event Disney had arranged to stream on Disney+. You know how the story played out on social media. Now, hear Chapek’s retelling of that fateful day.

Bob Chapek’s Last Day as Disney CEO: What His Book Says About November 20th, 2022

Chapek opens the chapter with a note on irony. He says Disney secured the rights in 2022 to record and live stream Elton John’s final North American concert at Dodger Stadium on Disney+. Chapek says he was heavily involved in that deal. He traces Elton John’s Disney history to the 1994 soundtrack for The Lion King, which Elton worked on with lyricist Tim Rice. Like most artists on animation projects, Elton took a minimal fee, Chapek writes. The film became the year’s highest-grossing release, and its album became the bestselling Disney soundtrack ever. “Circle of Life” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” drove much of that success. “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” also earned Elton John an Oscar for Best Original Song and a Grammy.

Two things strained the relationship, Chapek says: the limited payout from that original deal and Disney leaving Elton out of the 2019 remake of The Lion King. Elton reportedly felt hurt and disillusioned afterward. Chapek, a music lover and an Elton John fan, says he told those around him to make Elton feel invited and included. The relationship thawed over time. By May 2022, Elton was ready to collaborate again. Disney put his farewell concert dates on the books, with the Dodger Stadium show planned for the evening of Sunday, November 20th. Having grown up in Hammond, Chapek says helping bring a longtime idol back into the company’s fold felt like stepping into a dream.

Chapek says he was at home late that morning when a message arrived. Susan Arnold, Disney’s board chair, needed to talk to him that afternoon. His mind started racing. He says he figured it had something to do with Iger’s relentless three-year campaign, as he describes it, to undercut him. The upcoming board meeting in New York crossed his mind too. Given the timing, he figured it had to be important. He had no idea how important that call would be, he says.

Chapek’s Call With Susan Arnold

A couple of hours before the concert, with his wife getting ready in another room, Chapek took the call. Arnold had Horacio Gutierrez, Disney’s chief legal counsel, on the line with her. Chapek says the news hit him with a jolt of dread. Arnold jumped straight to the point and told him the board had voted to remove him. That call, he says, became his last official act as a Disney employee.

Chapek says he had spent plenty of time imagining what it would feel like to become CEO. Little time went to imagining what it would feel like to lose the job. He knew his tenure would end eventually, and he even told the Wall Street Journal a month earlier that he would not be the last person to hold the seat. Even so, he did not expect to be out before the end of the year. Months earlier, he says, he had received a three-year contract extension from the very person now firing him. He believes the campaign he attributes to Iger had finally taken its toll on the board.

Chapek says he refused to let Arnold end the call without saying his piece. He told her he could not say he was surprised. Then he turned the conversation to Iger, whom he saw as the real subject. Chapek says he told Arnold that Iger always seemed to believe he could take his job back whenever he wanted. Now, Chapek said, the board had made good on that belief. He describes the moment as the final blow in a long run of smaller ones.

Chapek says he took a deep breath and chose each word carefully. He noted that Iger had wanted the job back from the second day after he left, and that it took Iger three years to get it. The way the board sprang this on him confirmed it had always been a matter of when, not if, he told her. He added that the earlier talks about poor earnings numbers now made sense. Iger had stepped aside right before COVID hit, he reminded her, leaving Chapek to hold the company together. Chapek says the company posted positive earnings and grew its market valuation. His reward for that hard work was watching Iger return, claiming he never wanted the job back but feeling duty-bound to take it.

Chapek says he conceded there was nothing he could do. He asked to see the press release and to include a statement before it went out. Arnold agreed, and the line went silent. Chapek writes that Arnold never admitted Iger was behind the decision.

Chapek says he insisted on seeing the press release, but that the company took only half an hour to roll it out. In the release, he says, Arnold thanked him for his service, especially for leading the company through the pandemic. She then said the board had concluded Iger was uniquely situated to lead Disney through a period of industry transformation. Chapek never got to issue his own statement, because the company cut off his computer and phone right away. Disney also denied him the chance, he says, to send a goodbye email to the roughly 200,000 people he had worked alongside.

Over the following months, Chapek says, it became obvious the company was systematically erasing him. He says Disney has even erased his name from the timeline on its official website. That claim has proven difficult to confirm, but Chapek does appear in an article about Disney’s history on D23.com. Chapek also says Iger cleaned house the next morning by firing some of Disney’s best people. He names Kareem Daniel, whom he credits with an exceptional job on the new streaming division, former chief of staff Arthur Bochner, and his dedicated assistant Jackie Hart.

Telling his family was the hardest part of the day, Chapek says. His wife, Cindy, had been excitedly getting ready for the Elton John concert, a big moment for her too. When he hung up, she saw his face from across the room and knew the news before he said a word. Chapek writes that she stood by him through the three-year CEO saga. That stretch included the stock’s record high of about $200 a share to what he calls Iger’s apparent sniping.

Chapek and his wife had planned to spend Thanksgiving with their children and grandchildren at Disney’s Aulani Resort in Hawaii. Their bags were packed by the door, he says. They called their children so the family would hear the news from them. Everyone showed up at the house without talking to one another first, Chapek says. He calls their support one of the greatest memories of his life.

Chapek says he hopes he never made his career about himself and that he wanted it to be about Disney, its characters, its people, its shareholders, and its fans. It did not end the way he wanted, he says, but he is grateful for the time he had.

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