THE Walt Disney Company has announced it is scrapping plans to build a new campus in Central Florida. This decision was taken into account following a year-long dispute with Governor Ron DeSantis.
Mr. Ron DeSantis has been attacking the company after its opposition to a state law banning classroom lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation in the past few years.
Walt Disney Filed a First Amendment lawsuit against Mr., DeSantis and also some other officials last month. The Company has decided to build the campus around 20 Miles from the Giant Disney World theme park resort. The company relocates 2,000 employees from California.
However, Josh D’Amaro, Chairman of the park, said in a memo to the employees that “new leadership and changing business conditions” prompted the company to relinquish those plans. Mr. D’Amaro also stated, “I remain optimistic about the direction of our Walt Disney World Business”.
He also added that they have planned to invest $17bn and create 13,000 jobs over the following 10 years. He said that he hoped they would execute this plan for sure.
Mr. DeSantis has been criticized for his ongoing row with Disney as he was preparing to launch an anticipated presidential bid.
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‘DeSantis is not the person you want for president:
Anna Eskamani, the Democratic representative, who represents the Orlando area in the Florida House, revealed a statement saying: “Governor Ron DeSantis is a job-killing moron who cares more about his political ambitions and culture wars than Florida and our future”.
According to Anna Eskamani, ‘woke makes you go broke’ but this is another example of how it’s the complete opposite. DeSantis is not who you want for president ever.
Florida Senator Joe Gruters said Disney’s decision was a huge loss. Mr Gruters said, “I hope we can put this conflict behind us and get back to a more normal working relationship with a company that’s been one of our best businesses and tourism partners that we have had over the last 50 years”.
He also added that “two thousand jobs and a billion dollars worth of investments into our state, I would say that’s a serious blow”.
Feud over ‘Don’t Say Gay Bill’:
The Feud began when Disney publicly opposed the state concerning lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation in early years critics called “Don’t Say Gay”.
As punishment, Mr. DeSantis took over Disney World’s self-governing district through legislation. Also, Disney World has appointed a new board of supervisors.
Before coming to the new board, the company signed agreements with the old board stripping the new supervisors of design and construction authority.
To respond, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature passed legislation approving the DeSantis-appointed board to repeal those agreements and create the theme park resort’s monorail system subject to state inspection, when it had previously been inspected in-house.
Disney’s suit against Mr. DeSantis alleges he waged a “targeted campaign of government retaliation”.
It asks a federal judge to void the takeover of the theme park district, and the DeSantis oversight board’s actions, on the platforms were violations of Disney’s free-speech rights.
