Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, announced Thursday that he is open to revoking the Walt Disney Company’s self-governing status following the corporation’s vocal opposition to the recently signed Parental Rights in Education Act.
If the Florida state government revokes Disney’s privileges, all of the corporation’s properties would become regulated by their respective central Florida counties, according to the report.
Disney was granted the power to approve construction projects and independently manage infrastructure operations in the Reedy Creek Improvement District in 1967, according to a report.
The district was also given the power to levy taxes for public service usage, the report noted.
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“They have gotten, essentially, this one corporation put on a pedestal and treated differently — not only than other business but even on other theme parks,” DeSantis said during a Friday press conference. “We should just treat everybody equally. We shouldn’t let one company have their own set of rules compared to everybody else, and I think they’ve been able to sustain this because they’ve had a lot of clout for many, many decades.”
The material coming from Disney and the corporation’s California executives is unbelievable, the governor said.
“They view their programming as a way to inject a lot of these topics into programming for very young kids, and I think I can tell you as a parent of young kids, that is not what I want to be seeing,” he added.
The governor’s sentiment has been echoed by numerous Republicans in his state.
“Yesterday was the 2nd meeting in a week [with] fellow legislators to discuss a repeal of the 1967 Reedy Creek Improvement Act, which allows Disney to act as its own government,” state Rep. Spencer Roach, a Republican, tweeted Wednesday. “If Disney wants to embrace woke ideology, it seems fitting that they should be regulated by Orange County.”
Yesterday was the 2nd meeting in a week w/fellow legislators to discuss a repeal of the 1967 Reedy Creek Improvement Act, which allows Disney to act as its own government. If Disney wants to embrace woke ideology, it seems fitting that they should be regulated by Orange County. pic.twitter.com/6sj29Gj6Wz
— SpencerRoach (@SpencerRoachFL) March 30, 2022
The Parental Rights in Education Act restricts educators from openly discussing gender identities and sexual orientation with children in kindergarten through third grade.
After DeSantis signed the bill into law, Disney released a statement claiming it would help defeat the law in court.
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“Disney has alienated a lot of people now,” DeSantis said, according to the report. “And so the political influence they’re used to wielding, I think, has dissipated. And so the question is: Why would you want to have special privileges in the law at all?”
