The feud between the Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis boiled anew, with the lawmaker accusing the entertainment giant of going too far in its pledge to work for the overturn of a controversial new state law.
What Happened: The legislation, House Bill 1557, is officially called the “Parental Rights in Education” bill but has become branded "Don't Say Gay" by its opponents. The legislation prohibits teaching classes related to gender identity or sexual orientation for students in kindergarten through third grade. DeSantis signed the bill on Monday, and the new law takes effect July 1.
Deadline reported that DeSantis struck back at Disney after it issued a statement claiming its “goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts.”
“For them to say that they’re going to work to repeal substantive protections for parents, as a company that’s supposedly marketing its services to parents with young children, I think they crossed the line,” he said during a Tuesday press conference at the state Capitol in Tallahassee.
While Disney’s 70,000-person workforce puts it among Florida’s largest employers, DeSantis positioned Disney as an out-of-state intruder.
“This state is governed by the interests of the people of the state of Florida,” he continued. “It is not based on the demands of California corporate executives. They do not run this state. They do not control this state.”
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What Else Happened: DeSantis also questioned why Disney was vocal about the Florida law but silent about human rights abuses in China, where the company operates a theme park in Shanghai and resources much of its merchandising output.
“People asked me kind of about their posture on the bill, and I said, ‘You know what? If we would have put in the bill that you were not allowed to have curriculum that discussed the oppression of the Uyghurs in China, Disney would have endorsed that in a second,’” DeSantis added.
Disney did not respond to DeSantis’ remarks.
Photo of Gov. DeSantis by Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons
