My Official Statement

[JimmyV_2.0]

The bigger question is what will Disney do.

I honestly do not know how they can host a private event for this company. Maybe they are contractually obligated to, but I would imagine that a company like Disney has contracts that have "out" clauses for certain unforseen events and morals/conduct violations. I just don't see: "But Pete Werner decided not to come" as being a satisfactory response to Disney. We'll see in the next 24-48 hours.

 

[auntfrannie]

I know Disney/Iger is in no way comparable to DUT/Magi, but I keep thinking how Pete would have ranted if Bob Iger would have made that kind of "I'm the victim" statement when Disney ousted Chapek.

 

[LuAnnL23]

I think some people love to be mean these issues are with and about Pete Werner and him alone why drag innocent people because Pete is associated with Dreams and the Dis that’s so wrong your mean and hurtful words are ridiculous i don’t think we know all the facts and speculations are dangerous put yourself in their shoes until we know the whole story judgement on the team is so wrong

 

[run217]

I know Disney/Iger is in no way comparable to DUT/Magi, but I keep thinking how Pete would have ranted if Bob Iger would have made that kind of "I'm the victim" statement when Disney ousted Chapek.

I think you just hit the nail on the head here. To expect zero negative reaction from viewers of a platform that openly discussed and reacted to many a scandal on its weekly show doesn’t make sense. And I think most here on this thread have expressed their feelings directly, but not in a hateful way.

I think people just hoped for a more thoughtful response from an organization they’ve enjoyed and supported over the years, and hoped to support in the future. The tone of the response dictates that decision for many people. This response goes against most PR 101 sensibilities, as some have pointed out. I will wait to see what more is said once the event is over, but as things stand now, I wish them growth and learning from this.

 

[nfreeman]

I definitely don’t support a lynch mob mentality. It would be unfair to the entire team. I would however strongly support Disney using a third party perhaps to investigate the entire company before continuing to allow it media access and to book travel.

Pete has bragged for years & years and years about he is treated like a King at Disney. He bragged about getting all types of special treatment. It’s time for Disney to take a stand and decide if the curtain needs to come down if the abuse is as bad as it seems.

 

[Greg P.]

I feel like the internet hive mind/ lynch mob mentality of taking down the entire company and everyone who works there is not what the actual victim is wanting.

Other team members have come forward and said it was an abusive work environment. Tyler said in his opinion, Dreams enabled Pete. I think many here are finding it difficult to believe that the team didn't at least know Pete ran a horrible and abusive work environment even if they didn't know anything criminal was going on. And for many that's enough to want to no longer support Dreams as a company, and that sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

 

[Evansvillegirl26]

Other team members have come forward and said it was an abusive work environment. Tyler said in his opinion, Dreams enabled Pete. I think many here are finding it difficult to believe that the team didn't at least know Pete ran a horrible and abusive work environment even if they didn't know anything criminal was going on. And for many that's enough to want to no longer support Dreams as a company, and that sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

Can each person who did know be held accountable? Sure! Does it mean the people that didn’t know, the people that don’t even work in person with him that are employed deserve to have their livelihoods taken away from them? How many employees between all the platforms involved that had absolutely nothing to do with any of it should lose their jobs?
Im sure there are lots of employees treated terribly, but the burn it all to the ground attitude so many have not knowing all who will be affected just isn’t right. The actual assault victim has begged for the anger to be directed at Pete.

 

[Greg P.]

Im sure there are lots of employees treated terribly, but the burn it all to the ground attitude so many have not knowing all who will be affected just isn’t right.

There's always fallout from things like this that impacts innocent employees, that's just is what it is. A company getting a customer's money is a privilege. And in the world of WDW/Disney travel it's a particularly special privilege because the customer can book everything themselves without a travel agent quite easily.

When a company, or the leaders of a company, act unethically there's always fallout and that fallout can and will affect employees who have nothing to do with it. There's a local restaurant chain around me with owners who treated their servers horribly and demanded the servers solicit a certain number of 5 star google reviews per week or their pay was docked. To me, those owners no longer deserve my money and the fact that employees who have nothing to do with the situation may be affected just is what it is.

Look at the history of how the owners of Dreams live and travel. It's always quite luxurious, and its funded by the Dreams and Dis businesses. Some people no longer want to contribute to that knowing that money may have been earned by abusing employees or looking the other way as they were abused mentally and physically. To have the opinion of "Dreams as a business has to earn back my trust before I give them another dime" is reasonable.

 

[Evansvillegirl26]

There's always fallout from things like this that impact innocent employees, that's just is what it is. A company getting a customer's money is a privilege. And in the world of WDW/Disney travel it's a particularly special privilege because the customer can book everything themselves without a travel agent quite easily.

When a company, or the leaders of a company, act unethically there's always fallout and that fallout can and will affect employees who have nothing to do with it. There's a local restaurant chain around me with owners who treated their servers horribly and demanded the servers solicit a certain number of 5 star google reviews per week or their pay was docked. To me, those owners no longer deserve my money and the fact that employees who have nothing to do with the situation may be affected just is what it is.

Look at the history of how the owners of Dreams live and travel. It's always quite luxurious, and it’s funded by the Dreams and Dis businesses. Some people no longer want to contribute to that knowing that money may have been earned by abusing employees or looking the other way as they were abused mentally and physically. To have the opinion of "Dreams as a business has to earn back my trust before I give them another dime" is reasonable.

I get that.
I’ve been a little fish in a big pond who lost their job to other peoples failures. It’s hard.
We can all choose to support or not support whatever cause.
I just hope the wishes of the assault victims continue to be heard.

 

[JimmyV_2.0]

There's always fallout from things like this that impacts innocent employees

Enron.
Madoff Investment Securities LLC.
The Weinstein Company.

A small number of wrongdoers brought down larger operations. Enron was America's fifth largest company when it collapsed. Just a few examples.

 

[Tonyz]

I think some people love to be mean these issues are with and about Pete Werner and him alone why drag innocent people because Pete is associated with Dreams and the Dis that’s so wrong your mean and hurtful words are ridiculous i don’t think we know all the facts and speculations are dangerous put yourself in their shoes until we know the whole story judgement on the team is so wrong

Sorry, but it's not just speculation. An ex-member of the company has repeatedly said (even in this very discussion) that he believes Dreams Unlimited Travel knew about Pete's abuse and let him get away with it.

Several other ex-employees have voiced either knowledge or suspicion about what happened.

This is not speculation. This is just a very unfortunate truth being exposed.

 

[JimmyV_2.0]

these issues are with and about Pete Werner and him alone

Just as no one here knows the identity of anyone else involved, you equally do not know that this is about Pete Werner and him alone. It is just as wrong to speculate about him being the sole wrongdoer as it is to speculate about others being involved. We just don't know. People here should refrain from proclaiming that there were many other conspirators involved. And people here should refrain from proclaiming that there are no other people involved. We don't know. But more is sure to come. I continue to use Harvey Weinstein as the closest example. He and he alone raped women on his casting couch. But would it be impossible to believe that there were others in his company who were on the other side of the door hearing the screams? Others who booked the appointments knowing what Harvey's intentions were? Others to whom he bragged about his conquests? I don't know any of that. But just because he is the only one who had physical contact with the women doesn't mean that he is the only person who knew what was going on. I would never say that his situation was about him and him alone. Nor would I say that his entire company knew. I just don't know. Same is true here.

 

[CentralPAPete]

The bigger question is what will Disney do

I mean, you know who had no problem name dropping Disney execs and how close he supposedly was to some of them. You would think the Disney corporation would want to distance themselves from these allegations at all costs.

 

[wkrainey]

Congratulations - you managed to turn your post into an attack. Typical.

Oh and just in case I get hit with the anonymous criticism, I am Michael Barker in the Facebook group and mjb.nyc on instagram.

Seriously, attacking your audience and supporters is not the way to move forward. You are not the victims here. Take your hit, be honest, make changes and move forward.

Are we reading the same post? It's It's 5 paragraphs.

Paragraph 1. Here is my original statement
Paragraph 2. Due to xyz I've been advised to limit what I saw, which is why my statement is brief and vague.
Paragraph 3. I'm disappointed in the attacks I received, the information you have isn't reliable.
Paragraph 4. Thank you to those who support me.
Paragraph 5. Here is my email for direct contact.

This is about as polite as you can get in a situation like this where you can only post limited information and can't tell people directly "hey, that crap you're spewing is inaccurate and here is the real story, and what actually happened." Michael Barker, you sir are acting like a Karen, and taking offense by taking statements out of context. If you truly feel this is an attack then look at yourself in the mirror.

 

[nfreeman]

I mean, you know who had no problem name dropping Disney execs and how close he was supposedly was to some of them. You would think the Disney corporation would want to distance themselves from these allegations at all costs.

Yes. Pete dropped Josh D’amaro’s name a lot

 

[Tonyz]

Contrast John's statement with the one Corey just posted...

The difference is jarring.

Corey is a good man.

 

[DonMacGregor]

The level of hubris is astonishing:

 

[DLgal]

John, do yourself a favor and hire a PR professional to navigate this.

This statement is a disaster.

If you want your business to survive and thrive after this, hire someone with experience to publish statements going forward or you are going to sink this ship fast.

Hopefully you take this as constructive criticism and not an attack.

 

[Strikan]

Are we reading the same post? It's It's 5 paragraphs.

Paragraph 1. Here is my original statement
Paragraph 2. Due to xyz I've been advised to limit what I saw, which is why my statement is brief and vague.
Paragraph 3. I'm disappointed in the attacks I received, the information you have isn't reliable.
Paragraph 4. Thank you to those who support me.
Paragraph 5. Here is my email for direct contact.

This is about as polite as you can get in a situation like this where you can only post limited information and can't tell people directly "hey, that crap you're spewing is inaccurate and here is the real story, and what actually happened." Michael Barker, you sir are acting like a Karen, and taking offense by taking statements out of context. If you truly feel this is an attack then look at yourself in the mirror.

Paragraph 3 was not necessary. It was also the largest paragraph. I do not think I am alone in this view. Read the other comments.

Look at Corey’s post from a few moments ago. That is what John should have posted. It’s not hard if you can get past your own ego and self interest.

 

[Cfabar1]

Pete has bragged for years & years and years about he is treated like a King at Disney. He bragged about getting all types of special treatment. It’s time for Disney to take a stand and decide if the curtain needs to come down if the abuse is as bad as it seems.

PW was the type of fellow who would brag about everything, and much of it felt quite exaggerated. His grand talk never really made sense in relationship to the realities. The studio in the house always looked quite homespun, and the way he would talk about things was so over the top - like the $5,000 drink being made up as content and repeatedly stating that he hadn't drank any of it. I just didn't find it really that believable the way he would talk about his "wealth".

I don't think he's alone in this. I've watched several of these content creators do "tours" of rooms, suites, etc. and they often look like maybe they slipped a nice tip to a steward or hotel staff member to let them in for the purpose of the tour, or maybe coordinated with the company in exchange for more "authentic" publicity. The "glamorous life" is a huge part of the influencer persona after all...

I kind of put those comments about his deep connections to Disney leadership in the same bucket. Oh I'm sure as a person with a travel agency, and apparently (until recently) a relatively successful one, he was invited to events, and these people would say hello, and maybe even have a secretary offer them a few notes about things to remember about Pete, but at the end of the day he was at best as important as a food critic is to a restaurant or a movie critic is to a movie studio.

I'm interested to know what Pete's "divesture" actually means. We may never know. I'm hopeful that it means that the proceeds will be taken to settle his debt with Amex, and any other debtors. It's safe to say that Amex is not his only debtor - Monera and Disney both come to mind as likely people who are owed more money. Based on what I have read, other employees or people at the firm might be owed money, and the company may be owed money beyond this $800,000+ that is owed. I hope the divesture is speedy, but I suspect we will never know when this divesture is completed or any details around the purchase. This is a very closely held private "company". I put company in quotes because there's so much we don't know about how Pete ran this operation. Were other people employees or just independent contractors? Was this really a company or more of a sole proprietorship etc. etc. Much of this isn't really anyone's business when you think you are dealing with an ethical company, but I think many feel that trust has been broken, and people want to feel good about where they are spending their Disney online time and travel dollars.

I have no idea what the worth of a company like DISboards is, or how you even calculate it. Dreams seems a bit more manageable to find a fair valuation.

We will never know, but I'd be interested to know how the World of DVC purchase of DVC Fan was engineered. I hope it was handled appropriately and professionally. I also hope that Amy and Paul were able to get some ownership interest there, as they seem to really be the ones driving the content, and they seem like relatively nice people who have worked to create some independence from themselves while being adjacent to the PW empire.

It is clear to me, based on Pete's early mispronunciation of Paul's name in early DVC Show episodes (before he appeared on-air regularly), that if there is some distance between PW and the Kriegers it can be found. I honestly think, for their sake, they should issue some kind of statement on a future episode or in writing on the DVC Fan website, which, from what I can tell, does not mention that it is now owned by the World of DVC company.