The Walt Disney Company’s plan to build a new campus in Florida and relocate 2,000 employees from Southern California stalled Thursday after attacks from Governor Ron DeSantis and the Legislature as the company opposed a state law that would require classroom lessons on sex. bans. Orientation and gender identity in the early grades.
Disney filed a First Amendment lawsuit against DeSantis and other executives last month. The company had planned to build the complex about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the massive Walt Disney World theme park resort, but Josh D’Amaro, president of the Parks, Experiences and Products division, said in a memo to employees that “new leadership and changing “business circumstances” prompted the company to abandon those plans.
Disney and DeSantis have been engaged in a tug-of-war for more than a year, which has drawn criticism of the GOP governor as he prepares to launch an expected presidential bid in the coming weeks. DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern said the state had been unsure whether the new Disney complex would be a success since it was announced nearly two years ago.
“Given the company’s financial straits, declining market capitalization and falling stock prices, it is unsurprising that they will reorganize their business operations and cancel failed ventures,” Redfern said. Florida Sen. Joe Gruters, former chairman of the state Republican Party, called Disney’s decision a major loss.
“I hope we can put this conflict behind us and return to a more normal working relationship with a company that has been one of our best business and tourism partners for the last 50 years,” Gruters Said. “Two thousand jobs and a billion dollars in investment in our state, I would say this is a serious blow. The market is much better at dealing with companies than heavy handed government.’ Democratic Representative Anna Escamoni, who represents the Orlando area in the Florida House, issued a statement blaming the governor for the lost jobs.
“Governor Ron DeSantis is killing a job Idiot who cares more about his own political ambitions and culture wars than Florida and our future,” Escamani said. “According to him, ‘waking up breaks you’ but this is another example of how it really How is it the complete opposite. DeSantis is not what you want for president – ever. The feud began after Disney, facing significant pressure, publicly opposed the state’s subject of lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in elementary classes, which critics called “Don’t Say Gay”.
As punishment, DeSantis took over Disney World’s self-governing district through legislation passed by lawmakers and appointed a new board of supervisors. Before the new board took over, the company signed agreements with the old board, stripping the new supervisors of design and construction authority. In response, the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature passed legislation allowing the DeSantis-appointed board to nullify those agreements and subject the theme park resort’s monorail system to state oversight when it had previously been in-house.
Disney’s lawsuit against DeSantis accuses the governor of waging a “targeted campaign of government retaliation.” It asked a federal judge to nullify the acquisition of the theme park district, as well as the actions of the DeSantis Oversight Board, on the grounds that they were infringing on the company’s free speech rights. Disney’s creation of a self-governing district by the Florida Legislature was instrumental in the company’s decision to build near Orlando in the 1960s.
Disney told the state at the time that it planned to build a futuristic city that would include a transit system and urban planning innovations, so the company needed autonomy. However, the futuristic city never materialized, and was instead transformed into a second theme park that opened in 1982.
(with inputs from AP)
Read this also | Disney+ lost 4 million subscribers before new layoffs
Read this also | Disney layoffs: around 4000 employees may lose their jobs