Gov. DeSantis to Disney: 'Let's Move Forward'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a televised interview Monday that he is ready to "move forward" and get passed his recent feud with media giant Walt Disney Company.

"Look, my wife and I, we got married at Walt Disney World. And so, it's not like we're opposed. I mean, we've appreciated working with them over the years, but I would just say, go back to what you did well. I think it's going to be the right business decision and all that," DeSantis said during an interview with CNBC. "But where we are today, you know, we basically moved on. They're suing the state of Florida, they're going to lose that lawsuit. So, what I would say is drop the lawsuit. This is a great place to do business."

Mediaite reported that the feud between DeSantis and Disney began with the company's objection to the recently enacted Parental Rights in Education Law which prohibits school staff from discussing sexual and LGBTQ-related topics with younger students.

Critics, including Disney, openly chided DeSantis for signing the state's Republican majority-backed legislation.

The governor responded by stripping the corporate giant's special taxing district, which gave it control over the central Florida property serving as home to Walt Disney World and other related tourist attractions since the 1960s, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

Disney pushed back with a federal lawsuit accusing DeSantis and the state of retaliating against the company in violation of its free speech rights.

In the CNBC interview, however, DeSantis said he took the action he did to ensure a level playing field with other companies in the state.

"Your competitors all do very well here, Universal, SeaWorld. They have not had the same special privileges as you have," he said in the interview. "So, all we want to do is treat everybody the same, and let's move forward. I'm totally fine with that. But I'm not fine with giving extraordinary privileges, you know, to one special company at the exclusion of everybody else."

Other lawmakers, including some Republicans, have also criticized DeSantis for going after Disney and hurting the state in the process, the Associated Press reported Aug. 6.

A group of former governors, congressmen, and former presidential administration officials have filed a brief with the court to demonstrate "how the path the Governor has chosen is corrosive to the form of democracy envisioned by the Constitution and to re-emphasize this court's critical constitutional role in curbing the excesses of governance by retaliation."

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