Maybe, I think Iger was the one who said I will come in and help. Iger was sort of still Chapek's boss since Chapek reports to Iger and the board. Either way its an interesting situation.
Iger is the Executive Chairman, which is different than a regular Chairman of the BOD. Chapek is not a member of the Disney BOD. Both are unusual for a company and suggest to me that the BOD did not feel Chapek was ready to be the CEO of all of Disney and this structure allowed him to learn other parts of the business with Iger’s mentorship and minimal politicking for the CEO job. The timing of the announcement and some other things seem suspect...maybe some day someone will write a book and fill in the missing parts.
My read on the article is that the pandemic is devastating Disney’s businesses right now and require an ‘all hands on deck’ response. The two worked together for many years and I assume they value and respect each other. I can only imagine the decisions Disney execs are trying to make right now, all with limited clarity about the future and most with gut-wrenching implications for the cast members. If I were in their shoes, I would welcome help from anyone and everyone right now.