As part of a wide-reaching interview at the DealBook conference today, Disney CEO Bob Iger again commented on the ongoing legal battle with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Notably, Iger said that his attempts to have a conversation with DeSantis were rebuffed. Iger said, "I offered, at some point through intermediaries, the ability to have a conversation with him, but he did not; he did not take me up on that offer."
Elaborating on the situation in Florida, Iger said, "The company, while I was gone, decided to take a position against the Don't Say Gay bill that was moving through the Florida Legislature. I won't comment about what I would have done or not done, but the company took that position against it. The governor got very, very angry at the company when it took that position and decided to punish the company by basically stripping its rights to a special district around Disney World that had been in place for decades. The question wasn't even about the bill. It was about does a company have a right to free speech. And if it exercises its right to free speech, it should not face retribution."
Judge Allen Winsor will hear arguments on December 12 at 9:30 am at the federal courthouse in Tallahassee as CFTOD tries to dismiss the lawsuit Walt Disney Parks and Resorts filed against DeSantis and his Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board.
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