Disney CEO Bob Iger on Monday called out Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for his state’s actions against the company, saying the moves would in the end wind up hurting Floridians.
DeSantis’s feud with Disney began last year after the company took a stance against the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which prohibits educators in the state from talking about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary schools.
DeSantis later signed into law a bill that dissolves the private local government controlled by Disney in the state, though the board he selected to replace it said last week that its predecessor had effectively stripped it of its powers on the way out the door.
“The governor got very angry about the position Disney took, and it seems like he’s decided to retaliate against us, including the naming of a new board to oversee the property and the business,” Iger said at the Disney shareholders’ annual meeting, according to The Wall Street Journal. “In effect, it seems, to punish a company for its exercise of a constitutional right. And that just seems really wrong to me.”
The CEO reportedly said the company plans a multibillion dollar expansion of Walt Disney World in the coming years, pointing to the jobs and increased tax revenue such a venture could produce.
“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,” Iger said.
The Journal reported that DeSantis on Monday sent a letter to the state’s chief inspector general asking that she and the state Department of Law Enforcement launch a probe into Disney’s interactions with the former governing board.