The goofy impasse between the Walt Disney Co. and the state of Florida — two venerable entities whose fates are inextricably intertwined — is providing lots of red meat for Fox News, MSNBC and divisive partisans on both sides — but it’s bad for America.
It’s time for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Bob Chapek, CEO of Disney, to go together to Cinderella’s Royal Table, share some scrambled eggs, shake hands with Donald Duck and put an end to this nonsense, which is harming the state and the corporation.
They both know Disney cannot leave Florida, where it has billions of dollars in sunk costs, and Florida needs Disney, one of its biggest and most important employers. The rest is just political theater. And an embarrassment to both parties.
This fight, indicative of the nation’s schism on these matters, began when Florida enacted a piece of legislation which says: “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.” Its proponents call the bill the “Parental Rights in Education” bill; its detractors have dubbed it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Neither side is likely to change its position anytime soon, even though this actually is a nuanced issue.
Chapek first tried to keep his company removed from the goings-on in Tallahassee, a smart course of action. But he caved to pressure from his employees to take a stand and oppose the bill, ending political donations and offering a variety of other virtue-signaling sanctions designed to appease those on the Disney payroll (no matter that Disney kept doing business in a variety of countries far more hostile to LGBTQ persons and issues than Florida).
That sparked a backlash in the Republican-led state legislature, which moved to dissolve the sweetheart “Reedy Creek Improvement District” deal that Walt Disney himself negotiated when Disney World was planned. In essence, the Reedy Creek giveaway gave Disney total control over what then was swampland and now is one of the premiere tourist draws in the world.
Here are two truths that emerge from this debacle.
First, corporate CEOs become involved in partisan political issues at their peril, and rarely to the benefit of their chief constituency, namely the shareholders of a public company.
Disney’s business model — the envy of the world — requires colossal numbers of both Republicans and Democrats, and their international equivalents, to walk through its gates, where they seek fun, family togetherness and a vacation from the troubles of the outside world. Disney’s profitability requires that to be protected, and America is better for red and blue staters actually spending time together. Chapek has alienated conservatives and put that at risk.
Second, legislation enacted out of a desire for revenge, and this surely fits that particular bill, almost never is good legislation.
It might make DeSantis and the state feel better to nix the Reedy Creek deal in their pique, but that will cause chaos among the local governments of central Florida and hurt Disney’s proven ability to be a rocket ship within the Florida economy, even as it is poised for a post-pandemic return. Hurting Disney, promoting it as a pariah company in the minds of a chunk of America, is an absurd position for the Florida governor to take. And we’ll wager the brighter minds in the DeSantis campare well aware of that. It’s not as good for his political future as DeSantis seems to think.
Of course, Chapek found himself between a rock and a hard place, mostly because of the hardened political divide over how children are educated in this country and what they are taught about gender and sexuality at a young age. He was trying to be responsive to employees with concerns.
Fine. But what he should have said was, look, we can’t control Tallahassee but we’ll make Disney as welcoming a place as possible for all humans and we will now rededicate ourselves to that. We’ll practice tolerance on Main Street, we’ll respect differences of opinion and we will have no part in any discrimination or hate on our property.
He might also have noted that the company long has dedicated itself to offering a chance for adults to rediscover their childhood and that its core brand required staying away from divisive issues. And he could have reminded some of his workers that companies make political donations out of self-interest, not ideological positions. And that when you work somewhere, you should want that company to succeed.
Had Chapek done some or all of that, he would have left DeSantis without any justification to mess with Disney’s long-standing, and long-earned, tax breaks. By not doing so, he left the door of the castle open to Florida Republicans looking for vengeance.
What a depressing mess at the self-described Happiest Place on Earth.
Enough. We recommend a photo shoot with Chapek and DeSantis shaking hands, restating their mutual bond and announcing the cancellation of the legislation dissolving Reedy Creek before it takes effect next year. They should restate their ongoing determination to protect what is so special to millions of families about Walt Disney World and vow never to mess with that in the future.
As with all compromises, the partisans on both sides will howl. But Minnie Mouse, always the smartest of the Disney characters, will know in her heart that America is better when it has places that those of different views about the education of young children can still enjoy together.
Dollywood can’t do it all by itself.
