DeSantis Keeps Giving Disney Lawyers More Ammunition

Somewhere in the office of Disney’s Los Angeles legal team, there is probably an intern whose sole job is to write down everything that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says about the Walt Disney Company. And while he has been running for the Republican Nomination for President, that intern has been incredibly busy.

Related: Judge Denies Disney’s Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit Brought by DeSantis’ Board

After Disney filed its initial lawsuit against Governor DeSantis and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District in Federal Court, the company filed an amended lawsuit, using quotes from DeSantis’ book and speeches that he gave discussing his retaliation against Disney for speaking out against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, known by its critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

This week, Florida Gov Ron DeSantis added more fuel to that fire. In an interview with Outick’s Clay Travis, Governor DeSantis claimed that by and large, employees at Disney World are with him in this fight and that the larger protests planned for outside Walt Disney World amounted to a single person.

Throughout the interview, DeSantis also claimed that his laws stripping Disney World of its self-governing Reedy Creek Improvement District and the subsequent feud that followed had hurt the Disney Company.

DeSantis said in the interview:

I think it’s hurt their company in terms of what’s happened with their share price, people going to their parks. Their movies — their movies intentionally are trying to pursue an agenda, a social agenda in very different ways. That’s not where the market is. The market wants you to do traditional stuff, in particular for parents with children

Part of the legal argument in the Disney lawsuit is that Governor DeSantis specifically retaliated against Disney for exercising its First Amendment rights and thus attempting to hurt the company. By his own admission, DeSantis is saying that the feud has hurt Disney’s business.

Related: Feud With Disney Is Hurting DeSantis’ Hometown

Disney’s efforts to throw out a lawsuit brought by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District were thrown out by a Florida judge just last week. Disney now has 20 days to respond to that suit in which the DeSantis appointees are trying to make any deals Disney had with Reedy Creek null and void. Disney argued that the Florida lawmakers passed a law that effectively got rid of those deals, making this lawsuit redundant.

There is no timetable for the DeSantis/Disney Federal case to be heard by a judge.

We will continue to update this story at Disney Fantatic.