DeSantis: Disney’s lawsuit is ‘political’ and ‘doesn’t have merit’

JERUSALEM (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis said Disney’s lawsuit “doesn’t have merit” and is “political” at a press conference in Jerusalem Thursday.

Disney filed a lawsuit Wednesday after DeSantis-appointed board overseeing Disney World voted to nullify the company’s last-minute, “far-reaching” agreements.

The company alleged that the governor-appointed board is engaging in a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” that would threaten “Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights.”

“I don’t think the suit has merit. I think it’s political. I think they filed in Tallahassee for a reason, because they’re trying to generate some district court decision, but we’re very confident on the law,” DeSantis said.

In early 2023, DeSantis signed a bill to dismantle the Reedy Creek Improvement District and create a newly-formed board, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, to oversee Disney. 

“They had no accountability, no transparency, none of that, and that arrangement was not good for the state of Florida. We did not think that should continue, so we now have brought accountability,” DeSantis said.

However, before the law went into effect, the previous Reedy Creek district board, hand-picked by Disney, quickly slipped through an agreement to give Disney 30-year vested rights and control over all development rights throughout the entire district – not just on Disney’s property.

The new Central Florida Tourism district voted Wednesday to commence nullification of Disney’s far-reaching agreements. The new board’s agenda for Wednesday described the agreements as “void and unenforceable.”

On Thursday, DeSantis said for years Disney has been treated “much different” than Universal, SeaWorld, and other places.

“They’re upset because they’re actually having to live by the same rules as everybody else. They don’t want to have to pay the same taxes as everybody else and they want to be able to control things without proper oversight, which every other Floridian has to have this type of oversight – all Florida businesses,” DeSantis explained.

“If you think about it, Disney was not even really, I mean, the district was changed, Disney itself, like there was nothing done about Disney, the state took the district and changed it,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis said the legislature has “every right” to abolish special districts.

The governor also said the media in central Florida used to hate the Disney arrangement, but now they “have to be against DeSantis” and are “shilling for Disney to get corporate welfare and to get subsidies.”

In response to the lawsuit Wednesday, DeSantis’ office said Disney has no “legal right” to “operate its own government or maintain special privileges not held by other businesses in the state.”

“This lawsuit is yet another unfortunate example of their hope to undermine the will of the Florida voters and operate outside the bounds of the law,” deputy press secretary Jeremy Redfern said.

Earlier in April, DeSantis vowed the battle with Disney was not over and would not end with the megacorporation being victorious in its pursuit of maintaining special privileges and authorities.

“They negotiated with themselves to give themselves the ability to maintain their self-governing status,” DeSantis said. “Now that’s in direct defiance of the will of the people.”

Lydia Nusbaum and Eric Daugherty contributed to this report.