Tesla (TSLA) has reportedly removed the in-car Disney+ app (DIS) from its EVs amid CEO Elon Musk’s ongoing feud with Disney CEO Bob Iger, according to Electrek. Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian, Josh Schafer, and Alexandra Canal break down the news and Musk’s recent rocky relationship with Iger.
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Video Transcript
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Sticking with the media world, the big beef between Elon Musk and Disney’s Bob Iger, Josh’s favorite topic, is now spilling over into your Tesla. EV blog Electrek reporting that Tesla removed the Disney Plus app from its EVs in-car infotainment system. Electrek then clarified that Tesla said it would be removing Disney Plus from cars where owners never used the app before.
So it all seems a little petty here for Musk to, you know, be upset about Disney spending on Twitter. And he said, you know, what I’m going to attack, I’m going to take you off of my Teslas. I mean, it’s not nothing for Disney, but it’s also– there’s also 4 million Teslas out there. So it is a little bit of something there for them.
ALEXANDRA CANAL: Yeah.
JOSH SCHAFER: Bob Iger versus Elon Musk, this is like the ultimate versus story, right? It’s the two people we always talk about fighting other people fighting each other. I think the story in and of itself, I wonder how much Tesla consumers care about what is offered on the screen?
ALEXANDRA CANAL: Well, there–
JOSH SCHAFER: Like how much do you care about–
ALEXANDRA CANAL: –were reports that–
JOSH SCHAFER: –how many different movie options you have in your car?
ALEXANDRA CANAL: –people were upset that Disney Plus wasn’t– you weren’t able to find it readily.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: I was in a Tesla recently. And I know you have one in your family. You charge that car up, what do you– what are you doing?
JOSH SCHAFER: Oh, good point.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: What are you doing when it’s charging?
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JOSH SCHAFER: Sure.
ALEXANDRA CANAL: Oh, yeah.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: You’re watching Netflix, Amazon Prime.
ALEXANDRA CANAL: That takes like an hour to charge your car.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: It could, 20 minutes, even 10 minutes to go watch the episode. So not having that option–
JOSH SCHAFER: It’s a good point.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: –is something that is people actually use it.
ALEXANDRA CANAL: Yeah and it did feel like during the New York Times DealBook Summit, which is really when this feud between Elon Musk and Bob Iger reached a fever pitch, it felt like Bob Iger was the scapegoat for all of the companies that pulled their advertising–
JOSH SCHAFER: Really?
ALEXANDRA CANAL: –off of X. That’s just what it felt like to me in that moment.
JOSH SCHAFER: Oh, right, right, right?
ALEXANDRA CANAL: Like, Musk was just expressing his frustration to all of those companies taking it out on Bob Iger. To go that step further, if this is true, and pull the Disney Plus, I don’t know.
JOSH SCHAFER: It gets to a point that we made when we were talking about that too of like, why go against Bob Iger and why go against Disney? To that point, if people do want content on their electric vehicle as I’m thinking about it, why would you pull off one of the most popular brands in America?
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: It’s petty.
ALEXANDRA CANAL: Yeah, man like [INAUDIBLE].
JOSH SCHAFER: Like, why pull off Disney and make your product worse? And then I can get another EV and my kids can watch Disney while we’re charging the car. It just doesn’t really actually make sense from a business perspective.
ALEXANDRA CANAL: Yeah, well, we might not be able to watch Disney Plus in a Tesla, but I still have it on my TV. So everyone can come over and watch it there, but that’ll do it for us.