2 years ago
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday lashed out at the Walt Disney Co. and “California corporate executives” after the company said Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education bill” — dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by opponents — should be repealed.
DeSantis, a Republican who signed the bill into law on Monday, was reacting to a tweet from Disney calling on the state Legislature to repeal the law or for the courts to strike it down. The governor signed the measure into law on Monday.
“I think they crossed the line,” he said during a press conference at the state Capitol. “We’re going to make sure we’re fighting back when people are threatening our parents and threatening our kids.”
DeSantis has been openly feuding with Disney and CEO Bob Chapek since the Florida Legislature approved the law, which prohibits teachers from leading classroom lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation for students in kindergarten through third grade. Critics of the measure say the legislation represents a broad attack against the LGBTQ community and will lead young people to be marginalized, bullied and possibly commit suicide.
Chapek, who had remained silent on the bill in the weeks leading up to its passage, had come under heavy criticism from Disney employees and others in the entertainment industry for not taking a stand against the bill. Chapek publicly condemned the measure, but only after the GOP-led Florida Legislature approved it in early March.
The California-based entertainment giant, which has more than 70,000 employees in Florida and a flagship amusement park in Orlando, later escalated the conflict when it announced that it would halt all donations to political campaigns in Florida over the “Parental Rights in Education bill.”
The company gave a little under $5 million to Florida candidates during the 2020 election cycle. But on Tuesday, state Rep. Joe Harding, a Republican lawmaker who sponsored the measure, said in a statement that he’s returning all political contributions he received from Disney and its affiliates.
“I’m disappointed to see Disney speak out against this legislation, which is now Florida law,” Harding said. “As a company whose primary audiences are young children and families, Disney has let us down through their complicity with the false narratives pushed by liberal media.”
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