The tone of the presentation is far less important than the tone in the minds of the people doing the presenting. You can present as somberly as you want, but if a laugh track is secretly playing inside their heads, they can fuck all the way off. Workers deserve actual compassion, not the facade of it.
Which OP sort of implied the sentence right after.
I'm pretty sure if most people heard the discussions that go on in management meetings, especially at high levels, they'd be pretty irate. I've been in a few at different organizations and I don't have the moral flexibility to treat people like disposable garbage our sociopathic business 'leaders' have. Most people suspect this is the case but are satisfied to hear PR lies--as long as the message isn't offensive (which I don't understand why, I prefer direct messaging so we can cut the BS).
We need a serious social revolution in labor rights and expectations in this country. Not sure if its a really bad or good time for it but I think its one of the two.
I don't have that experience, but my suspicion is that the cartoon bosses in peoples' heads might not be an accurate picture of actual bosses? Laying people off doesn't seem to be easy for most managers, or at least those who talk about it.
And even then, the only person who fully knows the real you... is yourself.
This case sounds like an unfortunate mistake, I’m sure they intended to present the material in a somber manner. That said, it begs the question on if what should be expected behind closed doors.