Bob Iger Says He Would be “Glad” to Meet With Ron DeSantis

If you’ve been watching or reading the news for the past year, then you know that things between The Walt Disney Company and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis could not be much worse than they are. It all began when ex-Disney CEO Bob Chapek spoke out against Florida’s highly controversial Parental Rights in Education bill. Chapek even promised that Disney would work to see the legislation overturned in the courts. From there, things quickly went from bad to worse. The fight seemed to culminate in DeSantis dissolving the Reedy Creek Improvement District and stripping Disney of its right to self-govern.

Credit: Orlando Business Journal

DeSantis then hand-picked a new board to take over the Reedy Creek area and changed the name to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. Everything seemed to be favoring the Governor. However, then the Oversight board found something that changed everything. The Reedy Creek board — before it was disbanded — had made a deal with Disney, giving the House of Mouse final say over everything that happened in the district. The deal could not be undone, even by a new board. In a genius move, they invoked the royal family to help them do it.

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DeSantis and the board were furious. However, the deal had been signed into law by both the Florida legislature and Governor DeSantis. The Oversight board said that they would sue Disney over the agreement, and DeSantis has appointed people to look into the agreement and see if there were any legal or ethical violations. Current Disney CEO Bob Iger, for his part, has said that Disney plans to bring more jobs to the Sunshine State. He said that if the governor continues to attack Disney, he is being “anti-Florida.”

Credit: Hollywood Reporter

Iger was recently given the honor of being named one of TIME Magazine’s Most Influential People. While sitting down for an interview with TIME, Iger was asked about the power struggle between DeSantis and Disney. Iger pointed out that Disney is one of the largest private employers in the state and brings millions of tourists to the state every year. That, in turn, brings millions of dollars into the state. Iger wants Disney to be able to benefit Florida the way it has been for more than 50 years.

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Iger said:

Our sole goal in Florida is to continue creating that value for all those constituencies. All we want is a relationship with the state that enables us to continue to do that. We have the wherewithal and we have the desire to continue to invest there to grow that business so that we can hire more people so that we can increase our attendance, and so that we can basically increase more value for the Walt Disney Company and for the state of Florida. It’s that simple.

Credit: TIME Magazine

Iger was also asked if he would be willing to meet with the Governor to try to come to some sort of agreement.

If the governor of Florida wants to meet with me to discuss all of this, of course, I would be glad to do that. You know, I’m one that typically has respected our elected officials and the responsibility that they have, and there would be no reason why I wouldn’t do that.

Last year, while Bob Chapek was still CEO, he said that he would be meeting with Governor DeSantis about the Parental Rights bill — which was also dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. DeSantis said that no meeting was ever scheduled, and the two never met before things went from bad to worse.

Credit: CNN

The governor has not responded to Iger’s comments. Recently, however, he has said that the state will win every fight it has against Disney. Disney has also not commented on the potential legal fights it will have against the Central Tourism Oversight Committee or against DeSantis.