Former Disney software engineer Josh Daws, recently laid off in a large company restructuring, told followers on X that Disney’s internal emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion has cooled since 2020 and that the company’s culture is shifting back toward mainstream priorities. He described a workplace where a vocal fringe pushed progressive agendas but said most employees simply want to make creative work. Daws also weighed in on AI, suggesting Disney will use it to cut costs rather than see it as a threat, and he declined to expand further after the Q&A.
Josh Daws spent more than a decade at Disney and revealed on X that he was let go in a round of cuts that affected roughly a thousand employees. That kind of shakeup has prompted questions about what direction the company is heading and whether culture wars inside the building will guide its future. Daws answered a long stream of reader questions, and his tone was cautiously optimistic rather than bitter.
He told one follower that DEI at Disney “peaked in 2020” but has been in a “steady decline” since, and then added, “It’s much better internally now. The vibe shift is real,” he . That line will resonate with people who felt the company leaned too far into identity-driven programming and internal policy. From his perspective, the change is visible to employees and not just a PR posture.
Daws was also blunt about his view of the company’s DEI apparatus; he said he was not a fan of the company’s DEI infrastructure, that it has “toned it down a ton since Trump was elected.” Those words reflect a wider impatience among workers who want creative freedom rather than box-checking bureaucracy. If internal policies are loosening, Daws sees that as a relief for everyday production teams.
He answered questions about who pushed diversity efforts and where the pressure came from, offering an insider take on how specific groups influenced company priorities. The conversation touched on the cultural tension between management initiatives and the creative core of the business. Daws positioned himself as someone watching the company recalibrate.
When why Disney seemingly “hate[s] conservative Christian[s]” while promoting the “LGBTQ agenda” at every turn, Daws — a Christian himself — a “very small and vocal minority of the company.” He stressed that most employees are not activists and simply want to do their jobs well. “Most folks just want to make cool stuff,” he added.
Daws also said the company understands how “” it is with fans and that leadership is aware of the backlash when priorities feel out of step with the audience. When asked if he had many other Christian co-workers, Daws , “Not enough but more than you might think.” His answers suggest a workforce that is more ideologically mixed than critics often imagine.
Throughout the back-and-forth, Daws remained measured about the future, saying he was cautiously optimistic about the of Disney while avoiding harsh attacks on former colleagues. That restraint is telling—he left the job but didn’t set out to burn bridges. The tone was more hopeful than vindictive, focused on potential rather than revenge.
On the subject of artificial intelligence, Daws was less circumspect, that Disney would incorporate it as a way to cut costs. He didn’t paint AI as an existential threat to creative work, noting bluntly, “No threat to them.” For those worried AI will replace storytellers, his read was pragmatic and focused on the business angle.
While Daws acknowledged that AI could be blamed for broader workforce changes “on the grand scale,” he pointed out that personal factors mattered too, like his status as a remote worker. That mix of automation pressure and remote-work logistics is a common theme across tech and media jobs right now, and it played into his own layoff.
When approached, Daws declined to give further comments about the company and chose not to turn the Q&A into a media campaign. The Walt Disney Company did not respond to requests for comments regarding Daws’ claims about DEI or AI.
