Walt Disney sues Ron DeSantis over ‘retaliation’ for ‘Don’t Say Gay’ stance

Walt Disney on Wednesday sued Florida governor Ron DeSantis and other officials, claiming 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 DeSantis, who has declared war on “woke Disney”.

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. 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.

DeSantis’ battle with Disney has helped raise his national profile as he prepares for an expected bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He was in South Korea on an international tour with stops in Japan, Israel and London when Disney filed its suit.

On Wednesday morning, the DeSantis-appointed board reversed the last-minute development agreement that had essentially preserved most of Disney’s 55-year-old powers in perpetuity.

“That was the final straw” for Disney, said Aubrey Jewett, a political-science professor at the University of Central Florida. “When [the new board] took that vote, Disney went right to federal court to stop its enforcement and overturn the new law.”

Jacob Schumer, an attorney at the Florida law firm of Shepard, Smith, Kohlmyer & Hand, said Disney is seeking “a reset” on all the measures Florida has taken against it, adding: “They want their whole district back.”

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.

DeSantis targeted the district last year after then-CEO 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. Chapek also said he would suspend company donations to the state’s Republicans.

Since then, Disney had largely refrained from public criticism of the DeSantis administration. In its lawsuit, the company says it made “several attempts to spark a productive dialogue with the DeSantis administration”.

In recent weeks Bob Iger, Disney’s chief executive, has become more vocal in his denunciations of the governor, calling DeSantis’ actions “anti-business and anti-Florida” earlier this month.

DeSantis has recently lost the support of some big Republican donors and members of the Florida Republican delegation. “The political environment surrounding this matters,” Jewett said. “For a while, DeSantis was getting applauded by his fellow Republicans, but now there is a number of them who have said he has gone too far in attacking Disney.”