Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday dismissed as politically motivated a lawsuit filed by the Walt Disney Co. to revoke the Orlando-area theme park's self-governing privileges.
“I don’t suppose the lawsuit has any advantage. I believe it's political,” DeSantis mentioned throughout a information convention in Jerusalem as a part of a visit his workplace described as an “worldwide commerce mission.”
“I believe they filed swimsuit in Tallahassee for a purpose, as a result of they're making an attempt to get a district court docket resolution,” the governor mentioned. “However we’re very satisfied of the authorized scenario.”
In its lawsuit filed in federal court docket on Wednesday, Disney accused DeSantis and different officers of partaking in a “focused authorities retaliation marketing campaign” after the corporate publicly opposed a state legislation geared toward proscribing dialogue of gender id and sexual Ban orientation in lecture rooms till third grade. DeSantis signed the legislation, which critics name the “Don’t Say Homosexual” legislation, final 12 months.
The lawsuit escalates the feud between Disney and DeSantis that has led to his push to revoke Walt Disney World's self-governing privileges. In February, Florida took management of Disney World's self-governing district and DeSantis appointed a brand new board to supervise the particular taxing district that features the theme park and resort property.
After DeSantis made it clear he would abolish the outdated board, his members handed an settlement to thwart him by retaining dwelling rule at Walt Disney World relatively than the brand new board – a transfer that angered the governor.
The corporate filed its lawsuit shortly after the brand new DeSantis-appointed board handed a decision to void the settlement, permitting the theme park and resort to retain management of a lot of its operations.
Disney claims in its lawsuit retaliation marketing campaign was “orchestrated at each flip by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney's protected speech” and “now threatens Disney's operations, jeopardizes its financial future within the area and violates its constitutional rights.”
In his remarks Thursday, DeSantis, who is anticipated to announce his 2024 presidential bid as early as mid-Could, criticized Disney's self-governing privileges, which might enable the corporate to get away with “no accountability, no transparency, none of that.”
“And that settlement was not good for the state of Florida,” he mentioned. “We didn’t suppose it ought to proceed like this. So we took accountability.”
DeSantis argued that Disney's dwelling rule privileges conflicted with its “pro-business” stance.
“That’s not what a free market is about. “Final time I checked, I noticed that they have been handled very otherwise than Common, SeaWorld and all these different locations,” he mentioned. “And that's why they're upset as a result of they really need to reside by the identical guidelines as everybody else.”
“They don’t need to need to pay the identical taxes as everybody else,” he added. “They usually need to have the ability to management issues with out correct oversight, when each different Floridian has to have that type of oversight, all companies in Florida. “So it's a little bit of a stretch to complain about that.”
Attorneys for The Walt Disney Co. didn’t instantly reply to NBC Information' request for remark.
DeSantis additionally dismissed NBC Information' reporting that he would announce his presidential bid subsequent month, emphasizing that “there have been no selections.” Nonetheless, the Florida governor pointed to the help he obtained from Disney-area voters throughout his re-election marketing campaign.
“The folks of Florida perceive that this can be a downside,” he mentioned, citing Walt Disney World’s self-governing privileges. “And never solely did they re-elect me within the space the place Disney is, we did it higher than anybody else.” The Republican has been doing this for fairly a while. So I believe that’s all.”