As Florida governor and wannabe Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is finding out, you simply don’t mess with Disney. The entertainment behemoth has as many high-priced lawyers as it does iconic films, as well as a vindictive and litigious streak that belies its wholesome image (but does chime pretty well with the incredibly dubious views of its founder). Now, DeSantis seems to have really angered the beast (or mouse, if we’re getting technical) and people are loving how Disney is fighting back.
The scrap between the governor and the world-famous entertainment giant began with alleged lover of free speech DeSantis passing a troubling law that would limit the ability of teachers to discuss the existence of LGBTQ+ people. The Don’t Say Gay law prohibits teachers from discussing gay people in any context with any children below third grade and heavily restricts how older students can learn about homosexuality in the classroom. Critics have stated this is an attempt at gay erasure, and looking at the facts, it’s hard not to agree.
Disney ⏤ which, for all its faults, has made LGBTQ+ representation a key part of its recent work ⏤ pushed back on this, claiming it would fight tooth and nail to make sure the bigoted and impractical rules were overturned. Over the past year and a bit, the battle has escalated, with both sides of the argument hiring an army of lawyers to try and win the legal fight. There’s also been a flurry of public relations activity, too, with countless social media posts and news reports fanning the flames of the fight across America.
While this all started with the Don’t Say Gay law, DeSantis has tried to move the argument onto other facets of Disney’s presence in Florida, including its tax affairs. The governor is clearly trying to flex his political muscles, while also showing supporters he’s not afraid to take on big corporations (unless, of course, those massive companies are giving him bucket loads of cash). However, he seems to have made an error in judgment with his latest attempts to show Disney who’s boss.
Disney famously has a large amount of control over a special taxing district that includes its properties in Orlando and the surrounding areas. DeSantis and other Florida Republicans recently voted to fire the board that oversaw Disney’s district, replacing them with a handpicked set of cronies who would be in charge of overseeing the area, thus inhibiting Disney’s ability to run its own affairs and eliminating a lot of its local power. However, as reported by CNN and a number of other outlets, DeSantis’ attempts to take control have backfired thanks to the outgoing board agreeing to a clause that allowed Disney to remain in control until “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England.”
Practically, this means DeSantis’ new group of sycophants and conspiracy-loving bigots will have zero power over Disney’s land, aside from the ability to maintain roads and basic infrastructure, until two decades after the last of King Charles’ bloodline is dead. So, perhaps DeSantis will become a Republican in the original sense of the word now and call for a French Revolution-style purge of royals in England.
DeSantis and his allies have claimed that Disney’s inserting of this clause, and several other favorable ones, into an agreement it made with the outgoing board is duplicitous and illegal. Of course, nobody can doubt that Republicans have a lot of experience in being both of those things, and there is definitely a kernel of truth in the idea that a company run by unelected businesspeople having this much power over local politics is not great for democracy. However, it’s also fair to say that DeSantis is hardly a champion of human rights and democracy himself, so it’s no surprise that his complaints are falling on deaf ears. And, considering Disney’s massive and well-funded legal department, it’s going to be hard for the governor to win in a court battle.
While Disney’s litigiousness and large amount of power is often seen as troubling by progressives, the fact that Micky and pals are using their considerable financial and legal heft to stifle the worst of DeSantis’ manufactured culture war is a big hit among the sorts of people who’d usually be critical of their actions — especially when Disney fights back in hilariously petty ways.
While the Yale and Harvard-educated multi-millionaire DeSantis might be able to fool gullible supporters into thinking he’s a man of the people and a serial winner, many observers are certain he’s got no chance of taking on Disney successfully. However, he has at least shown he’s standing up for that most famous of Republican values: lining the coffers of his friends at the expense of the taxpayer. So, at least his wealthy donors will be pleased, and in the GOP, that’s really all that matters.
Aside from Disney using its impressive heft to push back on DeSantis, there has been plenty of other opposition to his bigoted rhetoric and disturbing attempts to stymie free speech and education. Recently, tabletop RPG players in his state raised a boatload of cash for Transgender rights causes, and plenty of prominent celebrity voices have piled in on the governor. Even fans of former president Donald Trump have had a few hilarious digs at the Florida politician, with a spokesman for the Trump-aligned Make America Great Again PAC recently stating, “President Trump wrote ‘Art of the Deal’ and brokered Middle East peace. Ron DeSantis just got out-negotiated by Mickey Mouse.”
With that said, DeSantis is a slippery customer and is certainly willing to play dirty. Thankfully, Disney’s army of lawyers is no pushover, and we can only hope they continue to use their considerable power to do the right thing. The only thing we can know for sure is that this fight will keep on going, at a massive cost to the Florida taxpayer. What was that about being the party of lower taxes and business, again?
