Inside the Beltway Covers Disney Dustup

John McCaslin’s popular Inside the Beltway column in the Washington Times today began with the Disney story:

The late Walt Disney, who in testimony before Congress accused the Screen Actors Guild of being a Communist front, must have rolled over in his grave when Walt Disney Co. CEO Robert Iger reportedly spouted “[expletive] you” to Tom Borelli, director of the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project, at Tuesday’s annual Disney shareholder meeting.Mr. Borelli says he just finished informing shareholders from the podium about Mr. Iger’s refusal to sell the DVD or distribution rights of the miniseries “The Path to 9/11,” and upon returning to his seat attempted to shake hands with Disney’s CEO.

That’s when the not-so-kind words were uttered. At which time Mr. Borelli says he stepped back before the microphone and quoted Mr. Iger word-for-word, which caused “gasps” from the crowd of shareholders.

“So much for the family-friendly Disney reputation,” he now says in a statement released by the District-based conservative think tank and research foundation supportive of a strong national defense.

A two-part miniseries based on the federal 9/11 commission report, “The Path to 9/11” received seven Emmy nominations after airing in 2006 to large audiences over the Disney-owned ABC television network.

The think tank suggests Mr. Iger, who is labeled a longtime donor to “liberal politicians,” considers the miniseries too embarrassing to officials who served in the Clinton administration.

Read the entire column here.



The National Center for Public Policy Research is a communications and research foundation supportive of a strong national defense and dedicated to providing free market solutions to today’s public policy problems. We believe that the principles of a free market, individual liberty and personal responsibility provide the greatest hope for meeting the challenges facing America in the 21st century.