Disney’s Settlement With Donald Trump: Bob Iger’s $16 Million Decision, Fear at ABC News and Questions About George Stephanopoulos’ Future
By Tatiana Siegel, Gene Maddaus, Matt Donnelly
On the eve of a jury trial in June 2017, Disney settled a defamation lawsuit brought by a beef company for awhopping $177 million. The case stemmed from a series of ABC News reports in 2012 fronted by star anchor Diane Sawyer that dubbed the processed meat “pink slime.” At the time, it marked the largest settlement or jury award ever for a libel case== and has since been eclipsed only by Alex Jones ($1.438 billion to Sandy Hook families) and Fox News ($787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems).
Fast forward to 2024, and George Stephanopoulos is now the face of ABC News and one of the highest-paid anchors on TV, making up to $18 million per year. And inside Disney’s C-suites on the Burbank lot, there was a feeling of déjà vu thanks to a looming defamation lawsuitfiled in March by former and incoming President Donald Trump, a far more powerful and strident adversary than a South Dakota food processor. But a protracted fight with the president elect were similarly unpredictable and potentially devastating.
Says a source familiar with the inner workings of ABC:“This was ‘Pink Slime II: The Sequel.’”
In a move that floored ABC News’ rank-and-file journalists inside the network and in the broader journalistic community,Disney CEO Bob Iger authorized a $15 million settlement and an additional $1 million to cover Trump’s legal fees as well as a quasi-apology on Dec. 13. According to sources, Stephanopoulos was blindsided, unaware that Disney would back down in such a public manner until a few hours before the news broke. (Disney and Stephanopoulos declined comment.)
As CEO, Iger had long been a champion of Stephanopoulos, despite the anchor’s wonkier tendencies as “GMA” has needed to lean more heavily on pop culture and celebrity for ratings. (The morning show averaged 2.69 million viewers last week, behind “Today’s” 2.83 million average.) When Stephanopoulos started to float the idea in 2020 that he might leave ABC as his four-year contract was about to expire, Iger directly helped steer the negotiations to keep him in the fold —giving the anchor a new lucrative deal that also allowed him to produce documentaries for Hulu such as “Pretty Baby.”
But with Stephanopoulos’ current deal up in early 2025, insiders at ABC aren’t sure if he will stay at the network given the recent turn of events. Sources say Stephanopoulos has been vocal about how unhappy he has been with the settlement and apology.For ABC, the economics of paying an anchor $18 million a year may not make sense as “GMA” isn’t the advertising cash cow it once was. (Hoda Kotb recently announced her departure as a full-time anchor on “Today” after NBC tried to slash her salary.)
Trump’s decision to sue ABC News and the settlementoffer a window into just what the future might hold for journalists in his second term. “We’re aghast,” says one entrenched media executive with oversight of network TV news. “This is capitulation, but it’s also payback for how sloppy the press has been. We should have been more buttoned up and ready for this.”
For observers who monitor First Amendment issues, the settlement will have a chilling effect.
“It sends a message to be quiet,” says Katie Blankenship, senior director at PEN America, which advocates for free speech. “It sends a message to err on the side of caution.”(Bullshit, don't knowingly lie and you won't a first amendment issue)
In a statement, Society Professional Journalists executive director Caroline Hendrie said she “is concerned that the largely unexplained decision to settle the case risks setting a troubling precedent about the willingness of news organizations to defend their journalists in court.”
But Disney faced major hurdles with the lawsuit that stemmed from theanchor’s comments made on air that falsely claimed, “Donald Trump has been found liable for rape by a jury.” (In fact, a jury’s verdict found Trump liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s.) Stephanopoulos repeated the error 10 times during a March broadcast on “This Week,” the Sunday news program that he hosts.
Stephanopoulos isn’t the only high-profile person to use the word “rape.” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called Trump “an adjudicated rapist” during an interview with Jen Psaki on MSNBC as did Rep. Jamie Raskin while speaking with Dana Bash on CNN. Actor Bradley Whitford used that exact phrase during a rally for Kamala Harris in Wisconsin in October. (Shite they just listed everyone to sue by Trump!)…
Https://Variety.com/2024/Tv/News/Abc-News-Trump-Settlement-Backlash-George-Stephanopoulos-1236253269/
when one caves they all will cave. Because they all want access to Trump