New York (CNN) — Disney CEO Bob Iger has rejected Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ actions against his company, telling Disney shareholders Monday that the state’s recent actions are “anti-business.”
The state of Florida has taken steps to strip Disney of some of the powers it had over the land that includes and surrounds Disney World. The Florida move came after the company opposed legislation passed last year to limit discussions of LGBTQ issues in Florida schools, a bill opponents referred to as the “Don’t say gay”.
When Iger was asked about the fight at the company’s annual shareholder meeting, he made his most public defense to date of the company’s actions and his most direct criticism of those of the Florida government.
“Our point on this is that any action that thwarts those efforts simply to retaliate for a position the company took is not just against business, but against Florida,” he said.
Disney had operated for more than 50 years with extensive power to control the use of land in and around its theme park. It did so through an autonomous body known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District, whose board members had close ties to Disney.
But after the fight over the “Don’t Say Gay” bill last year, Florida initially tried to dissolve the district, only to realize later that such a move could leave local governments in central Florida with over $1 billion in bond liability. So earlier this year, he passed legislation that instead gave the state the authority to appoint board members.
Last week, the new board revealed that the land use powers of Orange County’s renowned Tourism Supervisory District had been removed before the law was passed and delivered directly to Disney through an agreement with Reedy Creek. That set off a new round of criticism from state officials, including DeSantis, who has been outspoken in criticizing Disney’s actions.
On Monday, DeSantis ordered a state investigation into the outgoing board in charge of Disney’s special tax district, his latest counterattack in the ongoing battle against the entertainment giant.
In a letter to Florida Chief Inspector General Melina Miguel, DeSantis accused the Reedy Creek Improvement District board of “collusive and self-bargaining arrangements” and unspecified ethics violations for taking actions that appeared to frustrate his efforts to become board charge. Separately, DeSantis’ office said in a statement that “all legislative options are back on the table” as his administration seeks to regain power and potentially retaliate against Disney.
“Disney is fighting again to keep its special corporate benefits and circumvent Florida law,” said Jeremy Redfern, a spokesman for DeSantis. “We are not going to allow that to happen. As Governor DeSantis recently said: ‘You haven’t seen anything yet.’”
Shareholders are divided by Disney’s position
Redfern’s comments came before Iger made his comments at the shareholder meeting. Following Iger’s comments, DeSantis’ office responded: “While a business has First Amendment rights, it does not have the right to run its own government and operate outside the bounds of Florida law. The Florida Legislature and Governor DeSantis worked to put Disney on a level playing field, and Disney was caught trying to undermine Florida’s duly enacted legislation at the last minute.”
Disney took a stand against the “Don’t Say Gay” bill after some Disney employees called him to speak out against the legislation. Iger said that Disney “may not have handled the position that he took very well.”
“We love the state of Florida,” Iger said. “I think that reflects not just how much we’ve invested over the last 50 years, but also how much we’ve given back in jobs and community service, taxes, tourism, of course. We have also always appreciated what the state has done for us. It’s been a two-way street.”
But Iger said it was wrong for the state to retaliate against Disney for taking a stand on it.
“The company has the right to free speech just like individuals,” Iger said. “The governor was very angry with the position that Disney took, and it seems that he has decided to retaliate against us…in effect to seek to punish a company for the exercise of a constitutional right. And that seems really wrong to me, against any company or individual, but particularly against a company that means so much to the state that you live in.”
Iger said Disney plans to invest $17 billion in Disney World over the next 10 years, investments he said would create 13,000 new Disney jobs and thousands of other indirect jobs, attracting more people to the state and generating more taxes.
Iger received follow-up questions from shareholders who questioned the company’s taking a stand against the Florida law. One shareholder asked if “it is prudent to take policy positions that satisfy a very small portion of people when our primary mission is entertainment.” Another shareholder criticized the company’s actions, saying that “Disney has gone from being a place of magic for children to an ideological company… that increasingly promotes the awakening agenda.”
Iger responded that his job is to do what’s best for the company and includes doing what’s best for his employees, allowing them to prosper. He said there are times when he intervenes on controversial issues because of their importance to employees, and times when he believes he shouldn’t intervene. He added that he is sensitive to criticism, including from some of the shareholders at the meeting, that the company is “creating agenda-driven content,” but denied that is the case.
“While I know we’re never going to please everyone all of the time… I want parents to be able to trust the content we’re creating for their kids, and we’re committed to creating age-appropriate content for family audiences,” he said.