Disney big: Ron’s attacks ‘preposterous’
Disney CEO Bob Iger lashed out Thursday at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for what he called “preposterous” political attacks on the family-friendly media giant.
Coming out swinging against the Republican presidential candidate, Iger (photo) rejected out of hand DeSantis’ accusations that the company is promoting improper images to kids.
“The notion that Disney is in any way sexualizing children, quite frankly, is preposterous and inaccurate,” Iger said.
He said it would be bad business for Disney to alienate customers by taking political sides.
“The last thing that I want for the company is for the company to be drawn into any culture wars,” Iger said.
Disney first raised DeSantis’ hackles when it issued a mild criticism of his signature “Don’t Say Gay” law restricting discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in Florida classrooms.
DeSantis retaliated by engineering a hostile takeover of a special municipal district that the Mickey Mouse corporation has used for decades to effectively control the area around its sprawling central Florida theme parks.
He even threatened to build a state prison near the G-rated entertainment Mecca if the company did not back down.
Iger, who took over from Bob Chapek in the middle of the squabble, escalated the feud by suing the state in federal court.
“To retaliate against the company in a way that would be harmful to the business was not something that we could sit back and tolerate,” Iger said.
DeSantis has sought to use his attacks on supposedly “woke” Disney as a selling point to evangelical Christian conservative voters who comprise a powerful voting bloc in the GOP presidential primary race.
But the feud has drawn harsh criticism from his GOP rivals who say he has betrayed Republican pro-business policies.
Former President Donald Trump mocked DeSantis for being “outsmarted by Mickey Mouse” after Disney managed to undermine DeSantis’ takeover of the municipal district and punished the Sunshine State by keeping a corporate headquarters in California instead of moving it to Orlando as previously planned.