The governor appointed a new oversight body to oversee municipal services on the sprawling site.
(Photo: AP)
Tallahassee The dispute between Disney and the governor of the US state of Florida, Ron DeSantis, is escalating: DeSantis is running a “targeted government retaliation campaign” against Disney as punishment for the company’s exercising its right to free speech, the statement said complaint filed in court on Wednesday.
This means that DeSantis is “a threat to the group’s business” and is jeopardizing the economic future of the entire region, the group warned.
The conflict between Disney and DeSantis stems from a controversial law that has been in effect in Florida since July 2022. It bans teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, and restricts sex education curricula through twelfth grade.
“Don’t say gay” law as a trigger
Disney publicly criticized the law, which became known in the US as the “don’t say gay” policy. DeSantis then went to war against Disney, the largest corporate taxpayer in Florida.
For example, DeSantis set up a body to strip Disney of management rights to its land near the city of Orlando, where Disney World amusement park is located. Until then, Disney had quasi-administrative sovereignty over the area due to a decades-old special regulation. At the end of March, Disney took back the administrative rights through a legal trick – DeSantis, in turn, blocked this step shortly afterwards.
DeSantis was not in his home state when the lawsuit was filed. This week he is visiting Japan, South Korea, Israel and Great Britain. The trip around the world is considered a warm-up phase for the 2024 presidential election campaign, because the governor is likely to announce his entry into the race for the White House in the spring.
In appearances, DeSantis likes to highlight his conflict with Disney and uses it to score points with the Republican base. “My job isn’t to kneel to some woken corporation, it’s to protect children,” he cried during a recent speech in Atlanta.
DeSantis once married at Disney World
DeSantis versus Disney, among Republicans, that has long been representative of the American culture war against what they see as increasing “Wokism” in culture, business and politics. DeSantis is celebrated for this at events: souvenir dealers sell baseball caps with “DeSantis” printed in the iconic squiggly script of the Disney logo.
The term “woke” means that people are aware of prejudices such as racism or sexism. In public discourse, “wokism” is now used more as a swear word or as a derisive word. Leftist and progressive actors, critics say, overdo it with tolerance and anti-discrimination efforts and impose their worldview on society as a whole.
Earlier this year, DeSantis released his book, The Courage To Be Free, in which he describes his fight against Disney Corporation and celebrates Florida as the state “where wokism will die.”
However, he did concede in the book that Disney played an important role in his life not so long ago: in 2009 he married his now-wife, Casey Black DeSantis, at the Disney Theme Park in Orlando. His bride’s family members are “Disney enthusiasts,” according to the governor.
“They loved going to Disney World,” so would have suggested the wedding location. “As a dutiful groom, I bowed to the will of the majority,” indeed, Disney World has a “beautiful wedding chapel.”
His only stipulation was that no Disney characters could be part of our wedding. I wanted our special day to look and feel like a traditional wedding.”
With agency material
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