Waging war on Disney.....

‘Come hell or high water,’ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is out to get Disney. Here’s why.

Julie Tremaine

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is waging war on Disney, his state’s biggest employer. Why? Well, he didn’t like one thing one guy said one time.

It might sound like an oversimplification, but it’s not. Bob Chapek, former CEO of Disney, botched his response to one of Florida’s outlandish right-wing policies, and DeSantis took the opportunity to try to gain control over the world’s most beloved entertainment company, in both its arrangement with the state government and the content the company produces. 

In the past, DeSantis has been enough of a fan that he was married at Disney World in 2009, for which “Saturday Night Live” gleefully skewered him April 8. But that was before he was trying to position himself as the most conservative candidate, the one who can eradicate the “woke mind virus,” as he likely prepares for a presidential bid.

DeSantis announced April 3 that he’s launching a state investigation into Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, which gives the company the ability to almost autonomously expand and operate the Walt Disney World resort with reduced state oversight. It’s the latest attack in a long string of maneuvers that Disney CEO Bob Iger has called “anti-business” and “anti-Florida.” 

The governor’s war on Disney started with the state’s controversial law — commonly referred to as “Don’t Say Gay” — banning the discussion of sexuality and gender identity in K-3 Florida classrooms. While many other corporations and public entities came out immediately denouncing the then-proposed legislation, Disney stayed silent. 

That silence angered Disney employees who felt their best interests were not being looked after, especially when the company’s California operations were being shifted to Florida. Many fans felt it was hypocritical not to comment when Disney sells gay pride merchandise, profits off its large LGBTQ fan base and positions itself as progressive by featuring openly gay characters in recent movies.

When Chapek finally did say something — announcing that Disney would pause political donations in Florida after contributing $4.8 million to candidates in the 2020 election — his response satisfied no one. To those who expected more, his statement was too late to feel authentic, and to supporters of the bill, it looked too much like the company was caving to liberal pressure.

In retaliation, DeSantis — who had received $50,000 in campaign contributions from Disney in 2020 — went after the Reedy Creek Improvement District, established in 1967. The district is essentially a special tax zone run by Disney executives, with the ability to expand their businesses on an unincorporated parcel of land between two Florida counties and implement their own services, including sewage and road maintenance. 

Knowing this was extremely favorable to the company, DeSantis ordered it dissolved. In its place, he created the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, which took power in March 2023. 

“I can tell you this: Disney may have gotten everything they wanted in Florida for the last 60 years, but there’s a new sheriff in town now, and we are not backing down,” DeSantis said at a recent speaking engagement in Simi Valley.

The board he appointed to run the district included, according to NPR, “five of his allies … including a prominent parents' rights activist, a Christian nationalist and a lawyer who donated $50,000 to his campaign.”

DeSantis also suggested that he would use the board to control Disney’s content. “When you lose your way, you’ve got to have people that are going to tell you the truth,” he said when he implemented the group. “So we hope they can get back on, but I think all of these board members very much would like to see the type of entertainment that all families can appreciate.”

But Disney wasn’t done fighting. Just before the board took over in March, the company amended its agreements with a “declaration of restrictive covenants,” cementing its power, and a “rule against perpetuities,” ensuring those powers would continue until 21 years after the last of King Charles III’s descendants dies. The changes blocked the new board from moving forward with its proposed overhauls. 

It all happened in direct view of the Florida legislature: All of the amendments were advertised in newspapers, as per regulations, and the meeting where they were passed was open to the public. But no one in the DeSantis administration noticed what was happening. 

Iger responded to DeSantis’ posturing in the Walt Disney Company annual shareholders' meeting April 3. “Any action that thwarts those efforts simply to retaliate for a position the company took sounds not just anti-business, but it sounds anti-Florida,” he said. He also pointed out that Disney is the largest taxpayer in the state and employs 17,000 people in Florida. 

As he’s outmaneuvered and it becomes increasingly clear that DeSantis’ political stunt isn’t getting the results he intended, the governor has escalated matters. Calling the move “collusive and self-dealing,” he ordered a state investigation into the agreement on April 3. 

“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” said DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern. 

Disney doubled down on the legality of its actions, saying, “All agreements signed between Disney and the District were appropriate, and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida Government in the Sunshine law,” according to Politico.

But DeSantis isn’t done. When his killing blow didn’t work to dismantle Disney’s power, he switched to a strategy of death by a thousand cuts. His latest threats suggest he might implement additional tolls on roads leading to the resort — which would hurt visitors, rather than Disney — but he doesn’t seem to mind. 

“Come hell or high water, we’re going to make sure that policy of Florida carries the day,” DeSantis said at an appearance at Michigan’s Hillsdale College on April 6. “And so they can keep trying to do things. But ultimately we’re going to win on every single issue involving Disney — I can tell you that.”

But in taking on Disney, DeSantis has likely bitten off more than he can handle. And Disney has proved, again and again, that it isn't afraid to outsmart him.