Disney Suffers Devastating Defeat In Court

Disney couldn’t muster enough magic in its kingdom to stop a Florida state board’s takeover of the company’s autonomy, a sign that it now believes a settlement with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is the only solution.

The Daily Mail reports that an eleventh-hour settlement between Walt Disney Co. and the Florida State Tourism Board has been reached in regards to the Reedy Creek Improvement Project, a designation that for decades has allowed the Florida-based corporation to largely regulate itself. In February 2023, Gov. DeSantis at the height of his culture war with Disney signed into law a new tourism oversight district to supersede Reedy Creek.

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The agreement ends lawsuits filed by Disney against the state of Florida, part of a larger bid to maintain favorable tax breaks and positions of power in state government that essentially acknowledged it was too big to regulate. That all changed after former Disney CEO Bob Chapek began criticizing DeSantis’ focus on culture war issues like his signature law banning the teaching of gender identity and sexual orientation for minors, dubbed by critics as the “don’t say gay law.”

“No corporation should be its own government,” DeSantis’ Communications Director Bryan Griffin said in a statement on Wednesday’s development. “Moving forward, we stand ready to work with Disney and the District to help promote economic growth, family-friendly tourism, and accountable government in Central Florida.”

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