Disney sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday over the Republican’s takeover of its theme park district.
The lawsuit alleges that the governor waged a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” after the company opposed a law critics call “Don’t Say Gay.”
via CNBC:
The lawsuit was filed on the same day that the district’s board of supervisors, which DeSantis had picked to take control over Disney’s Orlando-area parks, moved to undo a development deal that it says Disney struck to thwart its power.
The panel unanimously voted to declare “void and unenforceable” that development deal, which was approved shortly before DeSantis replaced the Disney-approved board with his preferred supervisors.
The lawsuit called that action the “latest strike,” saying the development contracts “laid the foundation for billions of Disney’s investment dollars and thousands of jobs.”
“The government action was patently retaliatory, patently anti-business, and patently unconstitutional,” Disney alleged in the civil complaint in U.S. District Court in northern Florida.
The board also voted for a resolution to effectively ban Disney’s Orlando-area parks from imposing future Covid-related restrictions.
Disney is asking the court to rule that the board’s legislative step was unlawful and unenforceable.
If a fight is what DeSantis wants, a fight DeSantis will get. Disney has nothing but time and resources.
