The Walt Disney Company has been dragged into the political campaign sphere despite not actually being able to hold public office.

In early 2023, Disney filed a federal lawsuit against DeSantis and members of the board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, arguing that Disney’s constitutional rights had been violated. The company has alleged DeSantis waged a “relentless campaign to weaponize government power” against it to punish it for speaking out. But now, DeSantis seems to have “moved on” from the conflict overnight.

In an interview with CNBC on August 15th, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Disney CEO Bob Iger should drop the federal lawsuit filed that accuses the governor of political retaliation. DeSantis said on CNBC’s Last Call, “They’re suing the state of Florida. They’re going to lose that lawsuit.”

He went on to share that if he were to give Iger a call that day he would tell him to “drop the lawsuit” and that Florida “is a great place to do business.” DeSantis then cited Florida’s status as the top economy in a recent survey, referring to the state scoring eighth overall in CNBC’s ranking of America’s Top States for Business in 2023.

“Your competitors all do very well here, Universal, SeaWorld. They have not had the same special privileges as you have,” DeSantis claimed he would say to Iger.

According to the Florida Governor, all he wants to do is “treat everybody the same” and “move forward,” continuing that he would be “totally fine with that.” But, DeSantis said he is not fine with giving “extraordinary privileges” to one “special company.”

DeSantis is referring to the former Reedy Creek Improvement District, which he has since taken over and appointed his own members to the renamed Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board.

Back in June, DeSantis and the Board filed their own motions to dismiss the federal lawsuit. He claimed that sovereign immunity and legislative immunity prevented him from being held liable. The Board made some different arguments, including that the case should be stayed until the state court lawsuit that the Board filed against Disney is resolved.

DeSantis claims that one of Disney’s arguments is “fatally imprecise.” Specifically, the Governor argued that he did not “strip Disney of any voting rights” within the District by “appointing anyone; the Legislature did that when it repealed” the Reedy Creek charter.

A Disney spokesperson had previously stated, “We are fully confident Disney will prevail in both the federal and state cases.”

We’ll continue to keep an eye on the battle between Disney and DeSantis, so stay tuned to DFB for more.

DeSantis Claims Disney Lawsuit Arguments Are “Fatally Imprecise”

The post NEWS: Gov. DeSantis Says He Has “Moved On” from the Disney Conflict first appeared on the disney food blog.