If you’ve been following the unfolding drama between Florida and Disney, you’ll know things are only getting hotter. Florida passed a law that bans the discussion of sexuality and transgenderism in public school classes, grades three and lower. The left slammed the bill and urged Disney—which operates a major theme park in the state—to comment.
Democrats managed to get Disney to out itself as a radical, “woke” company that promised to put more than 50% LGBT characters into their content. This triggered a wave of parents to dump Disney. And it provoked Florida to respond. The state passed a bill that would revoke Disney’s special treatment. And the governor just signed it into law.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed into law Friday a bill that strips Walt Disney Co. from being able to govern the land where the Disney World theme park is located…
In reference to the bill ending Disney’s special tax privileges in the state, DeSantis said, “I’m just not comfortable having that type of agenda get special treatment in my state.”
The bill eliminates the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which exempts Disney from numerous regulations and taxes and fees and reportedly saves the company tens of millions of dollars per year. [Source: Daily Wire]
This is a big deal. And it signals to Disney that Florida will not bow to the woke agenda, even from a company that does business there. Gov. DeSantis signed a law that ended Disney’s 55-year iron grip on the Reedy Creek Improvement District. This area of land in Florida was controlled by Disney, which acted like a county-level government.
It also meant Disney was exempt from certain taxes—saving them upwards of tens of millions of dollars per year. Why would Florida ever agree to that? They were thirsty for the money, honey. Even without those taxes, a major theme park would mean potentially millions in tourism dollars flooding the state.
But it’s clear this state government cares more about its principles (and protecting children) than the money Disney brings in.
It’s unclear what will happen next. We can be certain that Disney will sue to overturn this law. They might not have much of a case, since the state always had the authority to revoke this unusual arrangement. If they fail to overturn this new law, what Disney does next is anyone’s guess.
They might pull their theme park from Florida, but that is sure to cost Disney more than the state. Disney needs the theme park operating to pull in millions of dollars a year, to keep its far-left propaganda machine operating.
Disney might try to counter by dumping money into one of DeSantis’s rivals in the upcoming election. We’ll see how far that gets them.
Author: Mac Davis
