Disney’s Lawsuit Against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Has Change Of Judges

Just over a week ago, Bob Iger rhetorically asked the adversarial  Gov. Ron DeSantis if Florida really wanted Disney’s considerable business and tax revenue, or not. Now, without mentioning the would-be presidential contender nor his attacks on the company, the Mouse House has pulled some of that business and taxes revenues from the Sunshine State.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Walt Disney Co. has scrapped plans to build a $1 billion office complex in Orlando, as the company continues to wage a political and legal battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. In an email to employees on Thursday, Disney executive Josh D’Amaro said that “considerable changes,” including “new leadership” and “changing business conditions,” had led to the decision to cancel the project. Disney had planned to move 2,000 employees to the Lake Nona complex once it was complete, mostly from the Imagineering division. The company announced the project in 2021, and reports indicated it could have benefited from as much as $500 million in state tax incentives.

Joe Scarborough took some time to crack jokes about gay Republicans in the Senate on Wednesday’s “Morning Joe” after discussion of Florida’s investigation of a teacher who showed her students the Disney film “Strange World,” which features a gay character.Scarborough began with Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Bill, known by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay Bill,” which has Jenna Barbee is under investigation for potentially violating after she showed her class the film about environmentalism. Scarborough mocked the media reaction to the bill, which at first only applied to kindergarten through third grade for limiting sex education.

Rita Ferro, Disney’s ad sales and partnerships chief, urged media buyers at the company’s New York upfront Tuesday to “lean into all aspects of diversity” with their marketing commitments.

The Walt Disney Co. is asking a judge to dismiss or stay a state lawsuit brought by the special district that oversees its Florida property, calling the litigation “moot” given recent actions taken by the state.

McKinley Franklin editor Jenna Barbee, a fifth-grade Florida teacher, is under investigation by the Florida Department of Education after showing her class the animated Disney movie “Strange World,” which features an openly gay character. In a video posted to TikTok, Barbee said that she is being investigated for indoctrination after showing the film. “Our students had standardized testing all morning,” Barbee said in the video. “I thought it would be a great time to give them a brain break by showing a movie that related to what we were learning about in school…I chose this movie because it relates to our curriculum.” Prior to showing the film, Barbee acquired signed parent permission slips from students. She was then reported to the Florida Department of Education for indoctrination by Shannon Rodriguez, a board member of the Hernando County School District Board and parent of a student in Barbee’s class. The complaint related to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” legislation that has limited conversations about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. 

Pensacola News Journal.Under the law, which goes into effect on July 1, any medical provider, including doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers, pharmacists, mental health professionals, or lab technicians, as well as nursing home workers and hospital administrators, may refuse to provide care to patients if doing so would violate their conscience. Insurance companies also enjoy the right to deny care based on any moral, ethical, or religious objections.Health care professionals are also empowered to refuse to conduct research, update medical records, conduct testing or blood draws, or even make referrals if they believe doing so would enable a patient to make decisions or take actions that violate their provider’s personal moral, ethical, or religious beliefs.The Florida law also allows health care employers to discriminate in hiring and prevents medical boards from disciplining providers who deliberately spread misinformation about certain treatments, procedures, or diseases, such as a doctor who opposes COVID-19 vaccinations or believes that antiretrovirals are ineffective at treating HIV.While the newly signed law says patients can’t be discriminated against or denied care based on a host of personal characteristics, such as race, color, religion or national origin, it contains no such protections for sexual orientation or gender identity.According to the Movement Advancement Project, a think tank that focuses on LGBTQ-related policies, prior to the Florida law’s passage, about 1 in 8 LGBTQ Americans lived in a state where they could be denied medical care and are barred from bringing lawsuits against providers who refuse treatment.

The gloves are off, when it comes to the ongoing brouhaha between Disney CEO Bob Iger and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, which has reached a crescendo with Disney suing the governor last month and the governor suing back. “This is about one thing and one thing only and that’s retaliating against us for taking a position about pending legislation. And we believe that in as taking that position, we are merely exercising our right to free speech.

“Does the state want us to invest more, employ more and pay more taxes or not?” Disney CEO Bob Iger rhetorically asked today of the on-going attacks on the Mouse House by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

William Earl Disney CEO Bob Iger criticized Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s political moves in Florida on the company’s May 10 Q2 earnings call. The business-political feud was brought up as a result of a shareholder asking about the parks in Florida while there are political battles with the governor. “Regarding Florida, I got a few things I want to say about that bill,” he said. “First of all, if the case that we filed last month, made our position and the facts very clear, and that’s really that this is about one thing and one thing only and that’s retaliating against us for taking a position about pending legislation. And we believe that in us taking that position we are merely exercising our right to free speech. Also, this is not about special privileges or a level playing field or Disney in any way using its leverage around the state of Florida.

Disney Parks & Experiences generated the bulk of parent profits and about a third of total revenue last quarter with a noteworthy swing in international from Hong Kong to Shanghai to Paris.

were expecting Disney to report earnings of $0.88 per share on revenue of $21.7 billion. Disney shares closed Wednesday at $101.13 per share, down 1% today and 13.7% YTD.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The war between Disney and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis does not appear to be calming down any time soon — as both sides have traded lawsuits in a struggle for control over the company’s Orlando theme parks. In the latest move, the DeSantis-backed board that oversees Disney World, EPCOT and the other parks will take up a proposal on Wednesday to establish a code enforcement system. According to a staff report, the proposal would allow code enforcement officers to impose civil penalties of up to $500 per infraction per day — the maximum allowed by state law. The board would also appoint a special magistrate who could hear appeals of citations.

The Walt Disney Co. filed an amended lawsuit against Florida governor Ron DeSantis after the state legislature moved to void a 30-year theme park development agreement.

Governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday declined to answer a question about his support for mainstream human rights when a reporter asked him about Republicans embracing “extreme” anti-gay politics.“There seems to be a wave of extreme conservatism recently that is totally anti-gay, as evident in social media and even in government with people like Congresswoman [Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene],” the reporter told the Florida governor.“Can you say here today you support more mainstream human rights, like gay marriage and sexual orientation of adults? Yes or no?” the reporter asked.“So there’s a lot in that I don’t know where you’re necessarily going,” DeSantis, seemingly thrown by the reporter’s very basic question, replied. “Like, look, what we’ve done with the schools is, is say, you know, it’s inappropriate to be having these students exposed to curriculum about things like transgender ideology, it’s wrong for teachers to probe their sexuality, but that’s just saying what’s appropriate for, uh, for education and we want to focus on the basics.

Disney’s seemingly successful efforts to outfox Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ power grab to control the area around Disney World are “not even worth the paper they were printed on,” according to a countersuit filed Monday by the GOP presidential aspirant’s replacement board.

“I believe in the First Amendment, and not just because my good friend Jimmy Madison wrote it,” joked President Joe Biden tonight at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.

There aren’t many people ready to call Elon Musk “stupid,” but Jimmy Wales is one of them.

Dwyane Wade will do everything in his hands to protect his family, and that includes moving his family out of Florida. The NBA legend spoke Rachel Nichols for her Showtime series, in which Wade revealed that restrictive laws targeting the LGBTQ+ community — including his 15-year-old transgender daughter, Zaya -- proved to be the deciding factor to leave the state.«That's another reason why I don't live in that state,» said the three-time NBA champion in Thursday's show. «A lot of people don't know that.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis slammed The Walt Disney Co.’s lawsuit over his effort to strip the company of authority over its sprawling Walt Disney World property.