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It was a bruised Bob Chapek who arrived at Disney’s annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday — and all because of a crisis of his own making.

Earlier in the week, Mr. Chapek, the company’s chief executive, botched an internal email to Disney employees. He was seeking to explain Disney’s public silence on anti-L.G.B.T.Q. legislation in Florida that activists have labeled the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. There had been growing internal pressure on Mr. Chapek to condemn the bill, especially since his predecessor, Robert A. Iger, had already done so on Twitter and Disney employs 80,000 people in Florida. Instead, Mr. Chapek’s nearly 1,000-word memo poured gasoline on the fire, and the hashtag #boycottDisney was soon trending on social media.

“I am deeply angered by Disney thinking it can look the other way,” Abigail Disney, a granddaughter of one of Disney’s founders, wrote on Twitter. Employees in some parts of the company — Lucasfilm in San Francisco, Walt Disney World in Florida — complained bitterly to managers. On Tuesday, the Animation Guild, which represents Hollywood animation artists, writers and technicians, called Mr. Chapek’s decision to stay quiet “a momentous misstep” that “defies logic and company ethics.” The Los Angeles Times skewered him in an opinion column headlined in part, “Disney sets a new standard for corporate cowardice.”

Mr. Chapek addressed the criticism on Wednesday.

“While we’ve been strong supporters of the community for decades, I know that many are upset that we did not speak out against the bill,” said Mr. Chapek, who made his remarks off camera during the virtual meeting. “We were opposed to the bill from the outset, and we chose not to take a public position because we felt we could be more effective working behind the scenes directly with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.”