DeSantis rejects Disney lawsuit against him as political

Florida governor Ron DeSantis on Thursday brushed off a lawsuit against him by Walt Disney , describing it as politically motivated and accusing the company of lacking accountability and transparency.

The company claims the state’s “retaliation” for its stance on the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law violated its constitutional rights.

Until now the US media company has held back from taking legal action against Florida in the course of a bitter yearlong fight with Mr DeSantis, who has declared war on “woke Disney”.

Mr DeSantis, who is expected to challenge former president Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, has been embroiled in a row with Disney over a Florida measure banning classroom discussion of sexuality and gender identity with young children.

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Florida has passed legislation ending special conditions that gave Disney virtual autonomy in the Florida district where Disney World is located and where it attracts millions of visitors a year.

The company said in the lawsuit filed in a federal court in Florida that the state had violated a number of federal constitutional rights — including those protecting contracts, due process under the law and the first amendment right to free speech.

The entertainment group said in the legal filing it was “left with no choice but to bring this complaint asking the court to stop the State of Florida from weaponising the power of government to punish private business”.

It is the latest salvo in a battle between Disney and the governor over who should sit on a board overseeing the company’s operations in Orlando. Mr DeSantis had replaced the board with a slate of political appointees, prompting Disney to ram through last-minute contractual changes that neutered their powers.

“A targeted campaign of government retaliation — orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney’s protected speech — now threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardises its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights,” Disney’s complaint said.

Speaking in Jerusalem during an international tour aimed at burnishing his foreign policy credentials before an expected presidential bid, Mr DeSantis dismissed the lawsuit.

“I don’t think the suit has merit, I think it’s political,” Mr DeSantis told reporters at a news conference.

“They had no transparency, no accountability, none of that, and that arrangement was not good for the state of Florida,” Mr DeSantis said. ”We did not think that that should continue, so we now have brought accountability.”

Disney has enjoyed unusual privileges in Florida for decades through a special taxation district created following a successful lobbying effort by Walt and Roy Disney in the 1960s.

Mr DeSantis targeted the district last year after then-chief executive Bob Chapek criticised Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act — dubbed the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law by its critics — which limits discussion of LGBT+ issues in schools. Mr Chapek also said he would suspend company donations to the state’s Republicans.

- Reuters/Financial Times

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