Posted on 06/21/2023 10:18:23 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Latondra Newton, who has served as Disney’s chief diversity officer since 2017, is leaving the company. An internal memo from Disney chief human resources officer Sonia Coleman announcing Newton’s departure was circulated to staff Tuesday.
Coleman wrote that Newton “decided to leave The Walt Disney Company to pursue other endeavors.” We hear that she plans to join a corporate board and focus on a creative company she owns.
Disney said Newton’s direct reports will now report to Julie Merges, SVP Talent Acquisition, who will run the DEI operations on an interim basis while the search for Newton’s replacement is underway.
Newton’s title was SVP, Chief Diversity Officer, a role in which she oversaw Disney’s strategic diversity and inclusion initiatives. According to Disney’s bio, she worked with “various business segments and leaders across the enterprise to build on Disney’s commitment to produce entertainment that reflects a global audience and sustains a welcoming and inclusive workplace for everyone.”
Her time at Disney included co-signing with Bob Iger and Bob Chapek the May 2020 memo to Disney staff in the wake of the George Floyd killing, titled “Resolve in the Time of Unrest.” In it, the trio pledged “to use our compassion, our creative ideas and our collective sense of humanity to ensure we are fostering a culture that acknowledges our people’s feelings and their pain. We also realize that now more than ever is the time for us all to further strengthen our commitment to diversity and inclusion everywhere.”
Before Disney, Newton was Group Vice President, Social Innovation and Chief Diversity Officer. Toyota Motor North America, Inc. and Chief Program Officer, Toyota Mobility Foundation, Toyota Motor Corporation. She began her career at Toyota in 1991.
Variety was first to report on Newton’s exit today.
(Excerpt) Read more at deadline.com ...
I’m writing to share the news that Latondra Newton has decided to leave The Walt Disney Company to pursue other endeavors.
Since joining the company in 2017, Latondra has led the company’s strategic diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, including partnering with stakeholders across the enterprise to amplify stories of the world by people around the world. She has been dedicated to ensuring every person sees themselves and their life experiences represented in a meaningful and authentic way.
I know you all join me in thanking Latondra for her many contributions, including the lasting impact she has had on our employees and our culture. Working alongside all of you and so many others, she has inspired countless cast members and employees to bring about lasting change and to help create a world where we can all feel safe and we all belong.
Latondra’s direct reports will report to Julie Merges on an interim basis until a new DEI leader is identified. I want to thank Julie for leading this team along with her Talent Acquisition organization. Additionally, Shelby Curry and the DEI Internal Communications team will continue reporting to Carrie Brown in her role leading internal communications & engagement for the company.
Thank you all for your continued contributions to our DEI efforts. I know we can count on you to keep this important work moving forward during this leadership transition.
Gratefully, Sonia
Credit DeSantis?
Newton's departure follows two high-profile ultra-woke box office bombs. "The Little Mermaid," which has been a box office failure after its release last month, featured Black American singer Halle Bailey as Princess Ariel, highlighting the woke company's desperate attempts to rewrite history.
The movie needs to gross over $560 million to reach its production and marketing threshold.
This was followed by an even more catastrophic release of the Disney Pixar movie Elemental that features a non-binary character using they/them pronouns; The production, which also features characters ‘tackling’ racism and xenophobia, ranks as one of the lowest box office debuts for a Pixar movie ever.
They spent around $200 million making it. It opened with a $29.5 million recoup.
Maybe now Disney can prove how inclusive they are and hire a white Christian man.
RE: decided to leave The Walt Disney Company to pursue other endeavors.
//////////////////////
Kamala President of the United States.
Latondra Newton Vice President.
One that is married to a Christian woman, has kids, and normal, traditional values.
And while they are at it, maybe fire the whole DEI group and let him rebuilt it from scratch with a focus on Walt Disney-inspired family values.
Why are all DEI officers POC?
Doesn’t that sort of disavow equity?
(Those are rhetorical questions of course.)
They have patient shareholders to put up with the unnecessary gushing financial bleeding of this company
I would be interested in the makeup of the Disney board of directors and how they got on the board. They all need to be canned. Until that happens anyone who buys their stock should have their head examined.
>> Maybe now Disney can prove how inclusive they are and hire a white Christian man.
>> One that is married to a Christian woman, has kids, and normal, traditional values.
AAAAAARGHH! Kryptonite!
Latondra. How diverse.
You gotta love all the BS praise heaped into Latomdra, as she is hustled out the Disney doors. And into the arms of her lesbian love on Hawaiian beaches. And getting paid for two more years of doing nothing useful on her Disney contracts.
(Total guesses by me above)
So she’s off to trash another company then.
L
Read somewhere that disney is on the hook to buy comcast’s stake in Hulu in 2024 for at least $9.2 billion, but it won’t have the cash - and with all the flops they have had, no one is going to lend it to them.
The entire DIE staff and the board of directors should take a trip in a submersible to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. Naturally, no pesky old white guys will design and build it. And testing is so white supremacist.
Why is it that diversity officers are always from one racial and gender group? That doesn’t sound very diverse to me.
Your pension money.
I would look at profits and suggest that HR has already warned a couple hundred executives that bonus activity for 2023 is zero, and some billets will be dissolved (not to be replaced).
I looked up her background and found the above listed at https://www.blackentrepreneurprofile.com/people/person/latondra-newton/
Which surprised me, because when I read the excerpt, it sounded like she was an Ivy League MBA. I guess there aren't enough of those to go around to fill all of the DEI roles, so the opportunity opened. When you look up Kettering U, it sounds like it was a feeder school for auto manufacturing management.
Related to La’trine, I bet.
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