Disney CEO Bob Iger touted the House of Mouse’s contributions to the state of Florida as he slammed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his “false narrative” amid his on-going feud with Disney.
Iger, on Wednesday, aired out the state over its treatment of the company since it took a stand against DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” law, Deadline reported.
“Does the state want us to invest more, employ more and pay more taxes or not?” asked Iger during Disney’s second-quarter earnings call.
“There’s .. a false narrative that we’ve been fighting to protect tax breaks as part of this. But in fact, we’re the largest taxpayer in Central Florida paying over $1.1 billion in state and local taxes last year alone.”
Iger has spoken out against DeSantis in recent weeks, telling a shareholders’ meeting last month that the governor’s moves are “anti-business … but anti-Florida,” as well.
It followed several actions by DeSantis including his takeover of Disney’s special district and suggesting that a prison could be built near the theme park.
Disney sued DeSantis in late April as it claimed the governor has been “patently retaliatory, patently anti-business and patently unconstitutional” toward the company.
The Disney head, elsewhere in his call, “set the record straight” on special districts and their purpose in the state.
“There are about 2,000 special districts in Florida, and most were established to foster investment in development. It basically made it easier for us and others by the way, to do business in Florida,” he explained.
“And we built a business that employs, as we’ve said before, over 75,000 people and attracts tens of millions of people to the state. So, while it’s easy to say that the Reedy Creek Special District that was established for us over 50 years ago benefited us, it’s misleading to not also consider how much Disney benefited the state of Florida.”
He also weighed in on the cause of DeSantis’ Disney grievances.
“This is about one thing and one thing only, and that’s retaliating against us for taking a position about pending legislation,” Iger said.
“And we believe that in us taking that position, we’re merely exercising our right to free speech.”
