Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Disney’s self-governing and push for LGBTQ content threatened the “democratic process” during a Friday appearance on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
The governor signed legislation on Friday revoking Disney’s special tax status in effect through the 1967 Reedy Creek Improvement Act. Under the law, Disney had the power to regulate its taxes, land use, environmental and medical services.
“This company had a deal unlike any company or individual in all of the state of Florida, probably anywhere in the United States,” he began. “They were self-governing, they had extraordinary powers, they could build nuclear power plants, they didn’t have to go through permitting processes and obviously a lot of tax benefits. And that’s just inappropriate.”
“And it’s certainly inappropriate when you look… they pledged themselves to mobilize their considerable corporate resources out of the coffers of this Burbank, California, based corporation to overturn the rights of parents in the state of Florida – effectively commandeer our democratic process.”
The governor then pointed to leaked footage of Disney executives outlining ways to incorporate “sexuality” into their content. He said, therefore, that the decision was appropriate and that the corporation should be set to the same standard as all the other constituents of Florida. (RELATED: Democrats Scream In Protest As Florida Lawmakers Vote To Pull Disney’s Special Status)
Fox host and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson said it is ironic that the executives speak of the importance of defending democracy when they stand against the legislative process rather than corporations. The governor said they will side with anyone who pushes their “leftist agenda.”
“I think what the left has come to is they want to see power exercised in advance of their leftist agenda. So yes, they used to be hostile to big corporations because they perceived corporations as being apolitical and that they wouldn’t support their agenda. Now they’ve figured out that they can try to subcontract out their leftism out of some of these big corporations and some of the executives will cave to the woke mob and then they’ll basically do the left’s dirty work,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis then said Florida Democrats believed getting Disney involved would convince him to back down from signing the “Parental Rights in Education” bill.
“We weren’t gonna back down an inch,” he said.
He said the majority of Floridians do not want “woke garbage” in American society, including biological men competing in women’s sports and have their children have sexual orientation “jammed down their throats.”
The governor urged the state legislature to pass the legislation after Disney came out in strong opposition to the parental rights bill that prohibits teaching sexual orientation and gender identity in K-3 classrooms. The entertainment giant called for the bill’s repeal or for the courts to strike it down.
