DeSantis, ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Sponsor Lash Out At Disney For Vow To Strike Down Law: ‘That Crossed A Line’

Topline

Florida Republicans slammed Disney Tuesday after the company promised to help strike down the Parental Rights in Education Act—referred to by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law—after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the legislation, as DeSantis said Disney’s comments “crossed a line” and a sponsor of the bill returned campaign donations from the company.

Disney employee Tiffany Cooper holds a sign to protest the company’s stance on LGBTQ issues in … [+] Glendale, Calif., Tuesday, March 22, 2022.

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Key Facts

Disney said in a statement Monday after DeSantis signed HB 1557 into law that its “goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts” by supporting advocacy groups challenging the law, adding it “should never” have been passed or enacted.

DeSantis told reporters Tuesday Disney’s statement was “fundamentally dishonest” and “crossed a line,” adding that Florida is not governed “based on the demands of California corporate executives.”

DeSantis pointed out Disney did not speak out against HB 1557 before the bill was passed—which they’ve been widely criticized for—saying Florida’s House Speaker told him “Disney never called him” when the bill was going through the legislature.

Florida state Rep. Joe Harding (R), who sponsored HB 1557, said in a statement Tuesday his campaign has returned Disney’s political donations due to the company’s opposition against the law, saying in a statement the company’s “rejection of common sense, parents-first principles gives me no other choice but to return their donations.”

Disney had donated $3,000 to Harding since January 2021, Florida Politics reports, though the company has more recently paused all of its political donations in Florida after coming under fire for supporting Harding and other GOP legislators who supported HB 1557.

Disney has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Crucial Quote

Disney “didn’t seem to have a problem with [HB 1557] when it was going through [the House],” DeSantis said Tuesday. “If this is such an affront, why weren’t they speaking up at the outset?”

Surprising Fact

While the company didn’t publicly oppose the bill until after it passed, Disney did work behind the scenes to lobby legislators in an attempt to soften language in HB 1557, the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times reported, though their efforts were unsuccessful. Disney CEO Bob Chapek also said after the bill passed he would meet with DeSantis in an effort to get him to veto it, but DeSantis’ office said Disney’s outreach did not affect the governor’s support for the bill.

Chief Critic

Florida state Rep. Carlos G. Smith (D), an openly LGBTQ legislator who’s been one of the most vocal critics of HB 1557, tweeted in response to DeSantis’ comments, “Wow … So if corporations are not in charge, will DeSantis cancel the next round of $600M+ in corporate refunds scheduled to go out and put it towards housing instead?”

What To Watch For

What effect the feud between Disney and Florida Republicans could have. Disney’s response to the widely condemned legislation has drawn outsized scrutiny given the company’s considerable economic influence in Florida, as Walt Disney World in Florida is the largest single-site employer in the country. The resort is also a major driver of tourism revenue for the state, and the Tallahassee Democrat reports sales tax on Disney theme park tickets generated $409 million for the state in 2018 alone. While Disney is unlikely to move any business out of Florida, the tussle comes as the company is set to move more than 2,000 theme park jobs to the state and receive approximately $570 million in state tax breaks for doing so. Disney has been granted concessions in the past from the Florida legislature as a result that could be threatened in the future, including a carve-out in a social media law for companies that have Florida theme parks and being among the companies who have gotten millions in corporate tax refunds from the state government. Florida Republicans have also been moving a bill forward that would give entertainment companies tax breaks for filming streaming or television projects in the state, which the Orlando Sentinel reported may have been undertaken with Disney in mind.

Key Background

HB 1557, which will take effect July 1, will ban any school instruction on “sexual orientation or gender identity” through the third grade, and any discussions about it in older grades if it’s “in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate.” Disney’s response to the widely condemned legislation has drawn outsized scrutiny given the company’s influence in Florida—Walt Disney World in Florida is the largest single-site employer in the country, and the company’s considerable economic influence in the state has had an effect on legislation before. Disney came under fire for initially refusing to publicly oppose the bill before it passed the state legislature—Chapek said the company championed LGBTQ rights through its content instead—before reversing course after drawing widespread criticism. Chapek told shareholders right after the bill passed that the company now opposed it, and apologized days later to employees and said the company would pause all of its political donations. Disney employees widely criticized the company’s response even after Chapek’s mea culpa, however, with multiple divisions within Disney openly opposing the company’s response and workers staging walkouts in protest.