The possible opponent of Donald Trump in the race for the Republican nomination for the American presidential election is relentless against the entertainment group because of its progressive positions.
Their divorce is definitively consummated. Disney filed a complaint on Wednesday, April 26, against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The reason ? The tenor of the American hard right has ended the special status of the multinational entertainment company in his state. A campaign of “targeted revenge”, denounces Disney. Franceinfo explains the war between the entertainment giant and Ron DeSantis.
Disney denounces an LGBTphobe law taken by DeSantis
A major employer in Florida with its Disney World amusement park in Orlando, the entertainment giant bothers Ron DeSantis because of his progressive positions. The storm began in 2022, when the governor introduced the “Don’t say gay” law, to prevent the teaching of subjects related to sexual orientation and gender identity in elementary schools across the country. ‘State. Pushed internally by the Pixar studios teams and threatened by calls for a boycott, the Disney boss had then publicly denounced this law, which according to him risked being “used to unfairly target gay, lesbian, non-binary and transgender children and families”reported the public media NPR (in English).
However, the governor, long tipped as a potential candidate for the Republican nomination in the race for the White House, has made the fight against “wokism” one of his main battlegrounds. Ron DeSantis accuses Disney of wanting to impose its progressive vision on an American society which, according to him, refuses it. He therefore undertook to make a rampart on his lands. The 44-year-old curator now wears his fight against Disney as a banner, in his speeches as well as in his recent autobiography, where the subject occupies an entire chapter.
Ron DeSantis ends group benefits in Florida
In this context, Ron DeSantis pulled out the heavy artillery: the governor abolished Disney’s special status in his state in February. It thus put an end to the advantages which the Disney World amusement park had enjoyed since the 1960s: administrative facilities, self-management of the site, advantageous loans, etc.
That’s not all. Following the decision, a tourism regulatory committee appointed by Ron DeSantis approved the cancellation of a recent commercial agreement with the park, which employs 75,000 people and attracts 50 million visitors a year. The governor also considered, in mid-April, to build a “state prison” near Disney World, or a competing theme park. He also mentioned the idea of setting up additional taxes on the hotels on the site, or road tolls around.
Disney sues Ron DeSantis
Faced with this situation, Walt Disney Parks and Resort, the branch of the group that manages amusement parks, filed a complaint against Ron DeSantis on Wednesday April 26. The multinational accuses the governor of having orchestrated a “campaign” to lead “targeted government revenge” and punish him for exercising his “freedom of expression”. That “now threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region and violates its constitutional rights”, argues the company.
On the economic level, Disney denounces in its complaint “a retaliatory measure, manifestly anti-trade and manifestly unconstitutional”. The group believes that it “has no choice but to pursue this legal action to protect its employees, customers and partners.”
An uncertain political impact
If the governor of Florida’s fight against the progressiveness of Disney has received a favorable echo among Republicans, his attacks against a large American company go less well. In early April, group CEO Bob Iger publicly accused Ron DeSantis of taking a “anti-trade measure”. Disney plans to invest more than $17 billion in Disney World over the next decade, create more than 10,000 jobs and attract even more tourists to Florida, he said.
A figure of the populist right in the United States, Ron DeSantis is widely seen as Donald Trump’s most serious competitor for the Republican primary. But some in his camp now castigate his anti-corporate fight which goes against party tradition, usually openly “pro business”.