Disney CEO Bob Iger attacked Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday, accusing him of attacking his company’s “right to free speech” when removing Disney World’s self-governing privileges after the company opposed legislation that would bar teachers from discussing sexuality with young children.
Speaking to Deadline, Iger said that Florida’s actions against Disney will cull the company’s ability to pay state taxes and employ more people.
“Does the state want us to invest more, employ more and pay more taxes or not?” Iger rhetorically asked. “There’s .. a false narrative that we’ve been fighting to protect tax breaks as part of this.”
“But in fact, we’re the largest taxpayer in Central Florida paying over $1.1 billion in state and local taxes last year alone,” he added.
Disney filed a lawsuit against the DeSantis administration in April, arguing that removing the company’s special status violated its First Amendment rights. The company strongly opposed the administration’s anti-groomer law, wrongly dubbing it the “Don’t Say Gay Law” and slandering millions of Floridians as homophobic bigots for not wanting sexuality discussed with kids as young as six.
“This is about one thing and one thing only, and that’s retaliating against us for taking a position about pending legislation,” Iger said. “And we believe that in us taking that position, we’re merely exercising our right to free speech.”
As Deadline noted, Disney gained its Florida special status in the 1960s when the state “passed legislation to create the Reedy Creek Improvement District.”
“That had allowed the company to self-govern on development decisions and to incur bonded indebtedness to finance roads and other types of infrastructure,” noted the outlet.
“Last week, the GOP-dominated state House of Representatives passed a land use bill aimed to essentially invalidate Disney’s agreement with the Reedy Creek Improvement District in February, when the special district was still under the company’s control. The bill will have a final Senate vote before going to DeSantis for his signature,” it added.
Disney’s lawsuit against the DeSantis administration will likely move to the Supreme Court.
According to Iger, Disney’s special status in Florida brought the state beneficial economic development that it will likely lose.
“This is not about special privileges or a level playing field or Disney in any way using its leverage around the state of Florida,” he said. “But since there’s been a lot said about special districts and the arrangement that we had, I want to set the record straight on that too.”
“There are about 2000 special districts in Florida, and most were established to foster investment in development,” he continued. “It basically made it easier for us, and others by the way, to do business in Florida. And we built a business that employs, as we’ve said before, over 75,000 people and attracts tens of millions of people to the state. So, while it’s easy to say that the Reedy Creek Special District that was established for us over 50 years ago benefited us, it’s misleading to not also consider how much Disney benefited the state of Florida.”
As Breitbart News reported, subscriptions for the company’s streaming service Disney+ have “experienced a steep drop off during the first three months of 2023, with the woke streaming service losing a whopping 4 million customers globally.”
“Overall, Disney’s streaming business continues to bleed money with no sign of profitability in sight,” the report noted. “While most of the Disney+ losses resulted from the end of the Hotstar deal in India, the streamer posted an unexpected loss of 300,000 subscribers in the U.S. and Canada as more consumers wake up to Disney’s relentless push of transgender and drag queen content in its entertainment for children.”
Paul Roland Bois joined Breitbart News in 2021. He also directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed on Tubi, Google Play, YouTube Movies, or VIMEO On Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.