Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he cannot be canceled Monday after LGBT activists showed up in New York City to protest his appearance at a Jewish leadership conference over the weekend.
On Sunday, the activists gathered with signs that read, “Say Gay,” and, “Not during pride month,” as the Republican governor spoke at the Jewish Leadership Conference, organized by the conservative Tikvah Fund group, at Chelsea Piers, a site located in a neighborhood connected to New York’s LGBT history.
“I am not going to let them cancel me,” DeSantis told Fox & Friends Monday morning, noting that Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, which critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, was an easy target.
“Let’s just be clear,” DeSantis said. “Yeah, they demagogued that bill, but if it wasn’t that bill, it would be something else. Look, these are leftists, and the fact of the matter is, they are having a spasm about me because we’re winning in Florida. They see that, and they don’t like that.”
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“After all, as the governor of Florida, me of anyone should be able to speak in front of all these future Florida voters that are moving down to my state,” DeSantis added, chuckling. “So, we weren’t going to let that deter us.”
DeSantis said his battle with Disney over its self-governing Reedy Creek Improvement District and backlash over legislation that sought to preserve parental rights regarding children’s education is an example of corporations virtue signaling with false narratives.
“These woke corporations, honestly, they do have a right to say what they want, but they don’t have a right to force me or my citizens to subsidize that behavior,” DeSantis said. “[Disney was] getting massive subsidies, basically using subsidies to attack parents in Florida and our school kids. That was unacceptable.”
The Republican governor, who is seen as a top contender for the 2024 GOP presidential ticket, said talks of his aspirations past November’s midterm elections “just sits when people bring up my name.”
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“At the end of the day, I think the interesting thing about me is people, you know, always inject my name into it just based off what I’m doing in Florida. And so, you know, we’ve really gotten more notoriety, not because I’m out trying to do that, just because I’m getting things done for people in my state,” DeSantis said, remaining tight-lipped on whether he has intentions of running for president. “I’m focusing on the task at hand.”
