- [Narrator] It is a feud
that has garnered nationwide attention.
- The battle between Florida
Governor Ron DeSantis
and Disney takes a new turn.
The House of Mouse now taking legal
action against the governor.
- Disney, the parent company of ABC,
filing a lawsuit against
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
- The Mouse House dealing another blow
to Florida Governor Rod DeSantis.
Disney ditching its plan
to build a billion dollar
office complex in Lake Nona.
- [Narrator] Pinning one of the world's
most beloved companies.
- [Bob] This is about one
thing and one thing only,
and that's retaliating against
us for taking a position
about pending legislation.
- [Narrator] Against one of the nation's
most popular governors.
- You're a corporation based
in Burbank, California,
and you're gonna marshal
your economic might
to attack the parents of my state?
So just what exactly is behind this feud?
What's at stake for both
Ron DeSantis and Bob Iger
and which side will
ultimately come out on top?
(upbeat music)
♪ You've never had a friend like me ♪
(whimsical music)
- The feud between Ron DeSantis
and Disney really started
in 2022 when the company
came forward against the so
called Don't Say Gay bill,
which prohibited Florida public schools
from teaching sexual orientation
to kids in kindergarten
through third grade.
- We will make sure that
parents can send their kids
to school to get an education,
not an indoctrination.
- [Narrator] Then Disney CEO, Bob Chapek
largely remained silent at first,
declining to take a stance.
But after mounting public pressure,
he released a company-wide memo
to employees writing in
part, "As we have seen time
and again corporate
statements due very little
to change outcomes or minds."
And that quote, "the
best way for our company
to bring about lasting change is
through the inspiring content we produce."
- That memo was not
well received at Disney
and there was immediate pushback
and it was all over social media.
It was basically seen
as though Bob Chapek had not taken a stand
for the LGBTA community.
- [Narrator] After facing intense backlash
for his initial statement,
Bob Chapek released a
second statement days later
saying in part,
"It is clear that this
is not just an issue
about a bill in Florida,
but instead yet another
challenge to basic human rights.
You needed me to be a
stronger ally in the fight
for equal rights and I let you down.
I am sorry."
- When he did that and sort
of waffled a little bit,
you know, in terms of messaging,
DeSantis pounced on it
and he called Disney woke.
Our policy's gonna be
based on the best interest
of Florida citizens, not on the musing
of global corporation.
(people cheering)
And in April of 2022, DeSantis
took things a step further,
signing a bill into law that
would officially strip Disney
of a special self-governing
status in the area
around its Orlando theme parks,
then known as the Reedy
Creek Improvement District.
- Since then, Bob Chapek has
been fired as the Disney CEO
and Bob Iger has returned.
That's where the
DeSantis-Iger feud begins.
- [Narrator] With CEO Bob
Iger back at the helm,
Disney began to go on the offensive
filing a lawsuit in federal court in April
against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
and other officials
alleging a targeted campaign
of government retaliation.
- [Bob] About a year ago, the
the company took a position
on pending Florida legislation
and while the company may
have not handled the position
it took very well, a company
has a right to freedom
of speech, just like individuals do.
And obviously in taking the position,
the governor got very angry
about the position Disney took
and seems like he's decided
to retaliate against us,
including the naming of a new
board to oversee the property
and the business, in effect,
to seek to punish a company
for its exercise of a
constitutional right.
- [Narrator] In response, less than a week
after Disney's lawsuit,
the newly appointed local
governing board voted in May
to sue Disney in state court.
And in the latest turn of events,
Disney just announced it
would not be moving forward
with plans to build a
roughly $1 billion office
complex in Lake Nona.
(dramatic music)
- Disney is the largest
taxpayer in Florida.
It has said it plans on
investing $17 billion
in the coming years in the greater
Walt Disney World theme park area.
It pays more than a
billion dollars each year
in taxes to Florida.
- [Bob] We have over 75,000 employees,
which I noted in my opening.
Countless thousands of indirect
jobs have been created.
About 50 million visitors will go
through our gates this year alone,
about 8 million of them
from outside the U.S.
And we are the largest
taxpayer in the state.
- Superficially, that would
be a bizarre punching bag.
Like that's not the entity that
you want to make your enemy
because if you are the
governor of Florida,
you are so reliant on Disney
and also just in general, like
you really wanna pick a fight
with Walt Disney World?
- [Narrator] But Ron
DeSantis did just that,
giving oversight of the special district
to his own appointees known as
the Central Florida
Tourism Oversight District.
- The reason why the
legislature had to act was not
because of anything we did.
It was basically born
out of Disney's arrogance
that they would be able to subcontract
around the duly enacted laws
of the state of Florida.
That's wrong.
- The special tax district
where Disney is located is
really now governed by a board
of all DeSantis appointees.
These people were handpicked
by the governor himself
to really reign in Disney's
self-governing abilities.
And so the board itself
is meant to really take on
the company through a government entity.
And so far there have been threats
of possibly building a
prison next to Disney
all after the company
came forward against the,
so-called Don't Say Gay bill.
- I think the reason
this is happening is that
Ron DeSantis is not your typical governor.
He is planning on running
for president in 2024
and he's decided that he's going
to make these culture wars a major part
of his presidential campaign.
- [Narrator] Bob Iger for his part
has tried to set the record straight
regarding special districts in Florida.
- [Bob] So this is not
about special privileges
or a level playing field
or Disney in any way using its leverage
around the state of Florida.
There are about 2,000
special districts in Florida
and most were established
to foster investment
and development, where
we were one of them.
It basically made it easier for us
and others, by the way,
to do business in Florida.
So while it's easy to say
that the Reedy Creek special
district that was established
for us over 50 years ago benefited us,
it's misleading to not also consider
how much Disney benefited
the state of Florida.
And we're also, we're not the only company
operating a special district.
I mentioned 2,000.
The Daytona Speedway has one,
so do the Villages, which
is a prominent retirement
community and there are countless others.
(dramatic music)
- The stakes now are much higher
because they're in court in
two different jurisdictions.
They're in federal court where Disney sued
and they're in state court where the board
that was appointed by
DeSantis has sued Disney.
- Disney has a pretty strong case
just on the practicalities of it.
DeSantis and the Florida
legislature are trying
to punish Disney for
speaking up very mildly
about a law in Florida.
Disney is actually making
several different arguments.
No matter what is ordinarily okay,
can't take an action to
punish private entity
because of its speech.
- [Narrator] As for Governor DeSantis,
the state's argument may
be on shaky legal ground.
- The argument that they have is
that Disney always got special treatment.
Whether or not that's true, to
revoke it as retaliation for,
you know, expressing a political opinion
is a serious problem.
And if a court were to
embrace a broader rule,
which is sure, go ahead and legislate
whenever you don't like
what a company is saying,
I think that would be a very strong signal
among other things to businesses,
you know, stay out of Florida.
But none of this has ever
deterred the governor,
in part because of his strong support
amongst Republicans in the Sunshine State,
- I'm definitely on De Santa's side.
Go woke, go broke.
- I think that renewing our annual passes
shows that we're supporting them
and I'm not supporting them
or their beliefs in what
they're trying to do.
There are other polls that have suggested
that this fight against Disney
is part of Republican party's
fight against, you know, culture wars
and getting involved with things like
that is actually a real net positive
for Republican primary voters.
- [Narrator] In this recent March poll
conducted by the University
of North Florida,
DeSantis enjoyed a much higher
favorability rating
when compared to Disney
among the GOP base.
About 87% of Republican voters
said they found DeSantis
to be either very favorable
or somewhat favorable.
When the same poll of voters
was asked about Disney,
only about 27% said they found the company
either very favorable
or somewhat favorable.
- So if and when, and
likely when Ron DeSantis
runs for president, this battle
with Disney could end up
helping him in the primary.
- [Narrator] But questions remain.
How will this translate
to the general electorate?
- Even if he pulls this off,
and uses this kind of
culture war against Disney
as a way to become the
Republican nominee for president,
there's still a lot of
questions as how this,
is this gonna really appeal
to independent voters,
swing state voters in a general election.
(dramatic music)
This is more of a political issue
than it is a Disney
financial or business issue.
This isn't particularly going
to be a stock mover for Disney.
It is definitely an annoyance.
- Iger believes that he has
the moral high ground here
and in past comments,
he's been very clear by
how he believes that Disney
was retaliated against
for expressing a political opinion
on the Florida legislation.
- [Bob] Any action that
thwarts those efforts
simply to retaliate for a
position the company took,
sounds not just anti-business,
but it sounds anti-Florida.
- [Narrator] DeSantis, meanwhile
is showing no signs of backing down.
- We fought very hard for children.
We have a fundamental
disagreement in this state
in terms of what we think
is appropriate for children
and what the people in Burbank, California
think is appropriate for children.
- So they may have to
get into a little bit
of the legal machinations here
and how they're gonna resolve this
and what the ultimate long
game is here for Disney.
- From a political standpoint,
Disney may gain just
as many points as DeSantis
feels like he's gaining
by not making this go away.
- [Narrator] For now, as both sides wait
for the legal process to play
itself out, the war of words
between the Florida governor
and Disney continue.
- We're not gonna let them
try to impose the idea
of gender fluidity on our kids,
particularly our young
elementary school kids.
And if Disney doesn't like
that, well here I stand.
I am not backing down one inch.
I am gonna do what's right
and we are gonna make
sure we're standing up
for our children.
- [Bob] We operate responsibly.
We pay our fair share of taxes.
We employ thousands of people.
So I'm gonna finish what is
obviously kind of a long answer
by asking one question,
does the state want us
to invest more, employ more people
and pay more taxes or not?
(dramatic music)