Comedian Nate Bargatze Shreds Bob Iger: Disney Run by a Guy ‘That Doesn’t Care About the Audience’

Comedian Nate Bargatze, a budding star with a growing fanbase, lamented that Disney has become all about business no longer cares about the audience.

Speaking with Esquire magazine, Bargatze said that he aspires to be a Walt Disney figure for the everyman while citing Jerry Seinfeld, Judd Apatow, and Adam Sandler as his influences.

“Now Disney is run by a guy that’s just a businessman,” Bargatze said. “Well, that guy doesn’t care about the audience.”

Bargatze said he puts the audience first because “none of this happens without them.”

According to Variety, Bargatze has been ” aying the foundation to build a Disney-like empire with movies and TV shows, merchandising, books, podcasts and even a theme park in Nashville called Nateland that would be built on the site of the former Opryland theme park.”

“I’ll be honest with you, I bet we’re closer than people think,” Bargatze said of his theme park. “But it’s still a little bit of a ways off.”

Bargatze will host the Emmy Awards later this year after a successful Netflix standup special and two highly-acclaimed Saturday Night Live hosting gigs.

As to his plans for the future, Bargatze says he wants to make TV that people watch, hoping to bridge the gap between an elite-tailored show like Succession and a populist show like King of Queens.

“I did not watch ‘Succession,’” Bargatze said. “I know it’s the greatest show ever to exist. I’m not a moron. Everybody understands it’s the greatest show in the world. I want to watch it. This has nothing to do with the show. But no one watched it in the grand scheme of things.”

“Everybody has lives, everybody has kids, everybody has stuff to go do,” he continued. “They don’t want to sit and worship your art. There’s got to be a balance of appreciating ‘Succession’ and appreciating  ‘King of Queens.’ Those worlds have to exist together. Now you have too many ‘Successions.’ There’s nothing that’s a palate cleanser.”

Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating and can be viewed for FREE on YouTube, Tubi, or Fawesome TV. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow him on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.