Thursday evening, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was a guest during a presentation at Hillsdale College, a conservative liberal arts college in Michigan.
Disney is not superior to the people of Florida and so come hell or high water, we are going to make sure that that policy of Florida carries the day but ultimately we’re going to win on every single issue involving Florida, I can tell you that.
Ron DeSantis, Governor, State of Florida
During the interview, “big tech and Disney” were brought up, citing Disney’s complaint that public entities have the same freedom of speech rights as anybody. The interviewer asked a question of DeSantis, seemingly on Disney’s behalf; “We are a private entity; what are you doing messing with us with political power? What do you say to that?”
DeSantis replied, “Disney is a joke” and, “…they get into this issue with the sexualization of child programming and getting involved with our education bill.”
Under no circumstances should the state of Florida be subsidizing woke activism by allowing [Disney] to have their own government, so we took it away.
Ron DeSantis, Governor, State of Florida
DeSantis said that once this happened, the government had to look into it and ask if they have a first amendment right “to be advocating for gender ideology in kindergarten” and questioned whether or not it is “faithful to their fiduciary duty to their shareholders.” The Governor said that he “didn’t think so” but that that “wasn’t in his wheelhouse.”
DeSantis also said that the media got “spun up” about the developer agreements that Disney “very quietly” put into place before the government’s takeover of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, saying that Disney is “acting like they pulled one over on the state” and that the legislature will…
…void anything Disney did on the way out the door. Now that Disney has reopened this issue, we are not just going to void the development agreement they tried to do, we’re going to look at things like taxes on the hotels, tolls on the roads, and developing some of the property that the district owns.
You can watch the full discussion below.
Senior Editor for the DIS and DCL Fan | Disney Vacation Club Member | Thrilled to have been a '13/'14 Disney Parks Moms Panelist (now planDisney) | Lover of all things Disney; the Magic of Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and Disney Cruise Line | ºoº
