envisions himself as Marvel’s , and we’ve discovered he’s pretty confused about the difference between and .
During his tenure as the head of The , has made the headlines, many of which cast him in a negative light. fans lay blame for increased at Chapek’s feet, and more recently, some ticket prices grew frustrated with him over his response to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, which prohibits classroom instruction about and gender identity in younger grades, and was signed into law by Florida . in late March
Since Florida’s legislation passed, the dissolution of Disney’s . Improvement District and have been engaged in a culture war that has resulted so far in division, misunderstandings, and soon,
Over the weekend, however, was honored with the opportunity to give the undergraduate graduation exercises commencement speech at , his alma mater.
Before he began his speech, the university faculty introduced Chapek and spoke about his background at Bloomington and his career with Disney since then. At that time, Indiana University conferred upon the Disney CEO an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.
His speech included a moving and heartfelt account of his childhood in Hammond, Indiana, and his reference to , his alma mater, as his door to a new life.
“[ ] was my ticket to a new life,” said in his address. “I was kind of desperate. Desperate to demonstrate my worthiness and desperate not to waste a dime of my parents’ money on a school that was frankly testing my limits at the time.”
All was going well in the speech, but then Chapek drew a comparison between himself and Marvel’s , and social media has had a heydey with that part of the speech since Chapek first utters the words.
“But that desperation turned to determination and my dream of defying expectations and the odds took over,” he said. “And just like draws his energy from that Arc Reactor, I get a thump from my drive to prove myself every single day. It’s a lifetime power supply that pushes me through doubts, difficulties, and around those who underestimate kids from the region.”
likened ‘s energy supply coming from the Arc Reactor, saying that he, too, gets energy from his drive to prove himself.
But the didn’t stop there. In fact, things got a little worse during his speech at IU Bloomington.
The from veteran Disney Company veteran, the former , in February 2020. Before he became the CEO of Mickey’s House, served for five years as the president of The ‘s Parks, Products, and Experiences Division. to the helm at
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You can hear the entirety of his speech here:
But that didn’t stop him from seemingly becoming confused about the differences between the and , as he referred to as the “Happiest Place on Earth,” which is actually ‘s nickname.