Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said Monday on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” that he appreciated working with The Walt Disney Company and would like them to “drop the lawsuit” they have against the state of Florida.
DeSantis said, “No one has made Disney more money recently than me because, during COVID, they were open in Florida. They were locked shut in California. We said we want you guys to operate because we understood how important it was that their cast members in central Florida had the ability to make ends meet. In fact, when Disney closed their parks, I didn’t tell them to close. They did it voluntarily. We got all their employees’ information. We ran them through unemployment. We helped them stay afloat.”
Anchor Brian Sullivan asked, “You’ve got a beautiful desk over there. Why not pick up the phone today and give Bob Iger a call? If so, what would you say to him? He wasn’t CEO when this happened.”
DeSantis said, “Look, my wife and I, we got married at Walt Disney World. 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.”
He added, “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.”
DeSantis concluded, “This is a great place to do business. Your competitors all do very well here, Universal, SeaWorld. They have not had the same special privileges as you have. So we want to 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.”
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