Evidence from 2024–2025 suggests Disney did not execute the kind of clear, lasting depoliticizing “course correction” away from politicized/identity-focused content that critics like Sacks were calling for, especially in the Star Wars franchise, and that any shifts were partial and tactical rather than a clean reversal.

Key points:

1. Star Wars stayed on an explicitly inclusive/"politicized" track.

   • The Acolyte (2024) was developed and marketed as a female‑centric Star Wars series with a diverse cast and an openly queer showrunner. It drew sustained criticism for being "woke" and was nicknamed "The Wokelyte" by detractors.(en.wikipedia.org)
   • In May 2024, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy publicly defended this direction amid backlash, saying her belief is that “storytelling does need to be representative of all people” and that this is an “easy decision” for her—explicitly reaffirming inclusive representation as a guiding principle, not walking it back.(latimes.com)
   • These statements and the creative choices in The Acolyte show Lucasfilm/Disney did not pivot Star Wars away from the representational politics that critics objected to; instead, they doubled down while trying to manage fan toxicity.

2. Bob Iger’s ‘quiet the noise’ line did not translate into a clear substantive retreat from politicized content.

   • In 2023, Iger told investors Disney would “quiet the noise” in culture wars and insisted Disney’s mission should “not be agenda‑driven.”(investing.com) These remarks predate the podcast and were widely read as a promise of course correction.
   • However, follow‑up coverage emphasized that while Iger wanted to lower the political temperature, he also reaffirmed that Disney would keep telling stories that “reflect the world around us” and “foster…acceptance of all people”—i.e., continuing inclusion even as rhetoric softened.(cinemablend.com)
   • Conservative and anti‑woke commentators through 2024–2025 repeatedly argued that Disney remained "woke" despite Iger’s language, indicating that, in practice, they did not view his moves as the needed course correction but as cosmetic.(westernjournal.com)

3. Some partial pullbacks exist, but they are limited and mixed.

   • Disney/Pixar cut a transgender‑identity storyline from the kids’ series Win or Lose, keeping the character but stripping dialogue about gender identity; the studio framed this as leaving such topics to parents.(people.com)
   • Pixar’s Elio reportedly had LGBTQ and Latinx content reduced, and insiders blamed those cuts for weakening the film’s identity and contributing to its failure.(sfchronicle.com)
   • At the corporate level, Disney scaled back or re‑branded some DEI initiatives (dropping the high‑profile "Reimagine Tomorrow" targets from filings and sharply reducing explicit “DEI” language in its 2025 annual report), while still talking about an “inclusive” workplace.(nypost.com)
   • Yet in March 2025 shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a proposal from an anti‑woke group to cut ties with the Human Rights Campaign, and Disney retained a perfect score on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index—clear signs it has not abandoned LGBTQ‑friendly policies.(reuters.com)
   • Net effect: Disney is trimming and re‑packaging some edge cases (especially around young children’s animation) but not broadly repudiating the inclusive/identity‑conscious approach that critics see as politicized.

4. The overall trajectory by late 2025 lines up with Sacks’s thesis.

   • Sacks’ prediction was that Disney would not enact the *“course correction they need” away from politicized content and that this failure would persist rather than be quickly reversed.
   • Between early 2024 and late 2025, Star Wars remains heavily aligned with inclusive/representational politics (The Acolyte being the flagship example), senior leadership publicly endorses that philosophy, and Disney maintains strong formal commitments to LGBTQ equality even while making selective concessions and softening DEI branding.(en.wikipedia.org)

Given that (a) there was no decisive, sustained pivot away from the very content choices being criticized, and (b) the partial adjustments did not satisfy anti‑woke critics or change the fundamental creative direction of franchises like Star Wars, the prediction that Disney would fail to make a sufficient, durable depoliticizing course correction in the near term is best characterized as right.