Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger returned fire at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday, calling the governor’s recent actions against Disney retaliatory and “anti-business.”
“To seek to punish a company for the exercise of a constitutional right, that just seems really wrong to me,” Iger said in answer to a question during the company’s annual meeting on Monday. “These efforts simply to retaliate for a position the company took sounds not just anti-business, but it sounds anti-Florida.”
Iger was referring to Disney’s
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opposition to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act that restricts classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity — and to DeSantis’ reaction to the company’s stand. After DeSantis vowed to challenge Disney’s authority in the region, the outgoing Disney-backed board of the Reedy Creek Improvement District signed an agreement that drastically limits the governor’s autonomy in the area. The Republican governor and the Florida legislature are now investigating whether that agreement is legal.
“The governor got very angry about the position Disney took [toward what critics call the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill] and seems like he’s decided to retaliate against us, including the naming of a new board to oversee the property and the business,” Iger said Monday during the meeting.
DeSantis’s office was not immediately available for comment.
Disney employs more than 75,000 people in the state, attracts 50 million visitors to Florida annually and is the state’s largest taxpayer, according to Iger. He added that Disney plans to make more than $17 billion in investments at Walt Disney World in Orlando over the next decade.
Earlier, shareholders supported 11 nominees to Disney’s board of directors, including Iger and Mark Parker, the executive chair of Nike Inc.
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who is taking over from retiring Walt Disney Chair Susan Arnold.
This post was originally published on Market Watch
