On Wednesday, April 26th, 2023, Disney sued Governor Ron DeSantis, claiming "a targeted campaign of government retaliation." Disney has an ongoing feud with the Republican Florida Governor, who is not a fan of Disney's political stance and activism.
The ongoing conflict between the two opposing parties started when Disney made public statements regarding the Florida state law that banned the discussion of sexual identity for elementary school kids. DeSantis was not happy about the statement, which he perceived to paint the state in a negative light.
The popular amusement park, Disney World, in Florida, is located in a special tax district in Orlando, allowing Disney to have control over managing the property. However, DeSantis has threatened to take away Florida Disney World's self-governing rights. Disney claims that the politician's attempts to increase control over the company are violating constitutional rights. Historically, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is usually cited when it comes to citizens having a right to the freedom of speech.
Disney claims that it is unjust for the governor to take away the corporation's self-governing privileges over their political views that oppose the Republican governor's agenda. As the fight escalates, the corporation finally decided to take legal action by filing a lawsuit to keep control over its operations in Florida.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/26/business/disney-desantis-board-florida.html
https://thehill.com/business/3935602-why-ron-desantis-is-fighting-with-disney/
3 comments:
As one of the leading corporation in the filming industry and their political stance means a lot to not only the Americans but possibly influencing the people around the globe. And the governor's threat to DisneyWorld is almost overstepping what power he has. And the case coming will also determine how much informal powers governors have.
This is really stupid of DeSantis. Disney literally pays his bills: from an article from NBC News that says the numbers behind the political feud. "Disney says it paid and collected more than $1.1 billion in state and local tax revenues in Florida last year". Of the 30 billion dollars raised by Florida last year over 1/30th of this is paid solely by the corporation that is Disney in Florida (mostly Disneyworld). DeSantis should either retire or stop getting in feuds with the people that keep his state afloat (literally).
I believe that as Disney is such a powerful company that plays a large role in Florida's image, the idea that DeSantis could have any power over what they do is unrealistic. This is especially since it is clear that Disney World has a special tax district subjecting it to being under their own management. Additionally, the conversation of the First Amendment being violated is an important issue as DeSantis is attempting to punish Disney, who legally have power over themselves, by threatening to take away their rights for freely sharing their opinions on political arguments regarding certain vocabulary being used in school. Overall, I think it is kind of ridiculous that DeSantis would even try to fight this as Disney holds so much power and will likely result in Disney winning since this has become an issue of free speech.
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