DeSantis strips power away from Disney World for daring to challenge his ‘Don’t Say Gay’ regime

Florida flop Ron DeSantis is an expert at being worried about the wrong thing. He’s usually using his governorship to punch down, from targeting trans youth to slashing curriculums on Black history. This week, he was finally toe-to-toe with somebody his own size — just for all the wrong reasons.

After protest from Disney supporters over the company’s silence on DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” bill last March, Disney CEO Bob Chapek officially spoke out in opposition of the legislation. Chapek said that the company had originally intended not to speak on the matter publicly, stating they thought they “could be more effective working behind-the-scenes, engaging directly with lawmakers.”

He also stated that he’d spoken with DeSantis “to express our disappointment and concern that if the legislation becomes law, it could be used to unfairly target gay, lesbian, non-binary and transgender kids and families.”

This measured but firm pushback to the governor’s queerphobic legislation earned the company a spot atop his personal sh*t-list. He’s since gone after the Walt Disney World Resort residing in his state — now, to an unfortunately effective end.

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Florida flop Ron DeSantis manages to show off anti-Blackness and queerphobia in one sentence

The governor has taken to pretending whole swaths of people don’t exist.

DeSantis’ administration went after the body presiding over the resort, the Reedy Creek Improvement District. They initially introduced legislation to disband the district entirely last April. They then pivoted to replacing the district and its board members.

Legislation passed last week by the Republican-controlled Florida Senate in a 26-9 vote will establish the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, a five-person board made up of DeSantis and Senate appointees that will assume the Reedy Creek district’s powers and responsibilities.

By assuming the power to control things like public utilities, zoning, infrastructure, and taxing throughout the Walt Disney World Resort via his appointees, the DeSantis administration has acquired massive leveraging power over the company to exercise at will.

“It’s like Disney is operating in a low-security prison, where they can still do what they want to do but there’s guards around them at all times,” said Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani. “They can’t speak up against the governor ever.”

Once again, a politician who creates huge tiffs over exercising free speech when they want to be discrimatory is using anything in their power to silence opposition by force.

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Free speech ‘hero’ Ben Shapiro’s hissy fit over Disney exercising free speech is quite the sight

It’s a strange world out there.

After this strong-arming, Disney World President Jeff Vahle stated that the resort will be “ready to work within this new framework” without opposition.

“For more than 50 years, the Reedy Creek Improvement District has operated at the highest standards, and we appreciate all that the District has done to help our destination grow and become one of the largest economic contributors and employers in the state,” he says.

“We are focused on the future and are ready to work within this new framework and we will continue to innovate, inspire and bring joy to the millions of guests who come to Florida to visit Walt Disney World each year.”

None of this is to mention how intense a switch-up this anti-Disney push is from the governor who actually got married at Disney World in 2009. Maybe he’s just trying to garner enough “DeSantis Disney” headlines to bury his embarrassing Disney Adult™ past?