Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, during a news conference at the Jerusalem Post Conference in Jerusalem, Israel, on Thursday, April 27, 2023.
Kobi Wolf | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday brushed off a lawsuit by the Walt Disney Co. over the revocation of its Orlando-area theme park’s self-governing privileges as politically motivated.
“I don’t think the suit has merit, I think it’s political,” DeSantis said during a press conference in Jerusalem as part of a trip his office described as an “international trade mission.” “I think they filed in Tallahassee for a reason, because they’re trying to generate some district court decision. But we’re very confident on the law.”
In its lawsuit, filed in federal court Wednesday, the Walt Disney Co. alleged that DeSantis and other officials engaged in a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” after the company publicly opposed a state law that aimed to ban the discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms up to third grade. DeSantis’ signing the legislation, which critics call “Don’t Say Gay,” last year.
The lawsuit escalates the feud between Disney and DeSantis that has led to his push to strip Walt Disney World’s self-governing privileges. In February, Florida assumed control of Disney World’s self-governing district, and the conservative governor appointed a new board of supervisors to oversee the special tax district, which encompasses the theme park and resort property.
After DeSantis made clear he was going to get rid of the old board, its members passed an agreement to thwart him by maintaining self-governance with Walt Disney World, not the new board — a move that angered the governor.
The company filed its lawsuit shortly after the new DeSantis-appointed governing board passed a resolution to void the agreement allowing the theme park and resort to keep control over much of its business operations.
Disney, in its lawsuit, alleges that a retaliation…
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