Disney CEO Rips Ron DeSantis Over Florida Battle

Disney boss Bob Iger slammed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday in the escalating tit-for-tat over the special tax district that oversees the company’s Orlando theme parks.

“This is about one thing and one thing only: them retaliating against us,” Iger said during a call with investors after the Mouse House reporting second-quarter earnings in line with Wall Street estimates.

“Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people, pay more taxes or not?”

Bob Iger

The NY Post reports Disney and DeSantis have been at loggerheads since the likely Republican nominee for president pushed through the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans teachers from talking about sexual orientation and gender for all public school students.

Disney’s opposition to the law led DeSantis to strip the company of its special Reedy Creek tax district, leading to lawsuits and countersuits in recent months.

“There’s also a false narrative that we’ve been fighting to protect tax breaks as part of this,” Iger railed. “But in fact, we’re the largest taxpayer in Central Florida paying over $1.1 billion in state and local taxes last year alone.”

The CEO poked holes in DeSantis’ claim that Disney has a unique situation in the Sunshine State because it occupied a special tax district, noting that other venues like the Daytona Speedway and prominent retirement community The Villages enjoy the status.

Iger said Disney intends to spend more than $17 billion in investments at Disney World over the next decade, which would create around 13,000 jobs at the company and generate more taxes for Florida.

Disney currently employs more than 75,000 people in the area.