"Go Back to What You Did Well" — Florida Governor DeSantis Shares His Advice for Disney

Disney has been in the middle of a heated battle with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the new board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (formerly the Reedy Creek Improvement District) for some time and now we’ve got some updates.

The new Board has made a number of changes within the District, and there are 2 lawsuits pending involving Disney and the Board and/or DeSantis — one in state court and one in federal court. Disney CEO Bob Iger has (at times) commented on the feud, but now we’ve got some updated statements from the Florida Governor on the whole matter.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently sat down with CNBC for an interview that covered a number of topics. One of the topics that came up was, as you might expect, the state’s ongoing battle with Disney.

During the interview, DeSantis claimed, “No one has made Disney more money recently than me.” Why? Well, he pointed to Florida’s policy of keeping businesses open during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though Disney did close its doors for a period of time during the peak of the pandemic, it reopened Disney World in Florida much sooner than Disneyland in California.

During the interview, DeSantis was asked about just giving Disney CEO Bob Iger a call on the phone, especially considering the fact that Iger wasn’t even the CEO when Disney’s main battles with DeSantis began (referring to all of the back-and-forth regarding Disney’s response to the Parental Rights in Education Bill, which took place while Bob Chapek was CEO).

DeSantis said that Disney has had a lot of problems apart from Florida and that in his view, parents have lost some confidence that the Company is actually speaking to what they want.

Iger has noted in the past that he is sensitive to accusations that Disney is producing agenda-driven content and that he does understand parents have different levels of comfort with content delivered to their children.

He said that he wants parents to “trust the content” Disney is producing, but also said that Disney is committed to telling stories that “reflect the world around us and that foster greater understanding, greater perspective, greater acceptance of all people.”

During the CNBC interview, DeSantis pointed out that he and his wife did in fact get married at Disney World. He noted that they have appreciated working with Disney over the years. Then he shared some advice for Disney. DeSantis said, “I would just say, go back to what you did well.”

He claimed that he and his allies have “basically moved on” from the battle with Disney. But, as CNBC points out, “DeSantis has frequently invoked his battle with Disney on the campaign trail as he seeks the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.” DeSantis has accused Disney of “sexualizing” children, a claim Iger has called “preposterous and inaccurate.”

Obtained via Click Orlando Livestream — Governor DeSantis

Going back to the CNBC interview, in talking about Disney’s federal lawsuit against the State, DeSantis said “They’re going to lose that lawsuit…So what I would say is, drop the lawsuit.”

Disney’s federal lawsuit has accused the Governor of conducting a “relentless campaign to weaponize government power” against Disney. DeSantis and the Board of the District have filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit, Disney has responded, and DeSantis and the Board have since replied.

DeSantis’ reply in support of the motion to dismiss stated, “The Governor welcomes Disney’s surrender on all of its claims challenging his legislative acts” and called Disney’s complaint a “glorified press release.”

In the CNBC interview, DeSantis argued that Florida is a “great place to do business” and said that his message to Disney would include the following: “Your competitors all do very well here, Universal, SeaWorld. They have not had the same special privileges as you have.”

He said he’d be fine with moving forward from this situation, but said he is NOT fine with “giving extraordinary privileges…to one special company at the exclusion of everybody else.”

You can see a clip of the interview below.

FL Gov. DeSantis to Disney: "Drop the lawsuit." https://t.co/jhVyHoJjV9 pic.twitter.com/vMhadlhc6P

— CNBC (@CNBC) August 14, 2023

We expect the topic of Disney and its battle with DeSantis will continue to be discussed as the Board of the District continues to make changes to District policies, the lawsuits continue to move forward, and DeSantis continues on the campaign trail.

In other news, The Orlando Sentinel has reported that the District Administrator for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District — Glen Gilzean — may be facing some scrutiny for his role in the District while also serving as the chairman of Florida’s ethics commission. That’s because there is a state law that indicates “members of the government watchdog panel cannot hold ‘public employment.'”