OlderWalt Disney World Files Lawsuit Against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
The battle between Walt Disney World and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just got legal.
The Orlando Disney theme park has now filed a lawsuit against the politician, as it was revealed on Wednesday (April 26).
If you recall, after Disney spoke out against the Governor’s HB 1557, aka the “Don’t Say Gay” law, he retaliated by going after their special district, the Reedy Creek Improvement District. The state House and Senate voted to strip the district, which resulted in it being taken over and renamed as the Central Tourism Oversight District, with DeSantis-appointed board members.
The back and forth between Disney and DeSantis has been quite public, and this new lawsuit is the latest, with Disney asking the court to declare the dissolved district unlawful and the result as a violation of the First Amendment.
Keep reading to learn more…
“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, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights,” the complaint reads, via THR. “Today’s action is the latest strike: At the Governor’s bidding, the State’s oversight board has purported to ‘void’ publicly noticed and duly agreed development contracts, which had laid the foundation for billions of Disney’s investment dollars and thousands of jobs. This government action was patently retaliatory, patently anti-business, and patently unconstitutional. But the Governor and his allies have made clear they do not care and will not stop.”
The suit is against DeSantis, Meredith Ivey, Acting Secretary of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and members of the new board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
Included in the complaint, Disney says they are being “forced to defend itself against a State weaponizing its power to inflict political punishment.”
“Disney regrets that it has come to this. But having exhausted efforts to seek a resolution, the Company is left with no choice but to file this lawsuit to protect its cast members, guests, and local development partners from a relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain State officials,” they continue.
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