March 2022 started a long battle between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Walt Disney Company. When then Disney CEO Bob Chapek spoke out against the “Don’t Say Gay” bill as referred to by opponents and called the Parental Rights in Education officially, it quickly escalated into what has now been a year-long back-and-forth. After Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dissolved the Reedy Creek Improvement District and its board with the Central Florida Oversight Tourism District and DeSantis’s special hand-picked board, Disney drew up an agreement with the board that included a particular clause—the King Charles III clause—which rendered DeSantis’s board powerless.
The board and Governor Ron DeSantis didn’t take kindly to this and moved to void the agreement. Moments after the agreement was voided, Disney filed a suit against Governor DeSantis. Then, in response, the board sued Disney. It’s been a whirlwind of events when it comes to this feud; every time we thought one side gained the upper hand, the other would come back swinging.
But there’s one little detail that has come to light about Disney’s lawsuit, which may leave many shocked and would certainly make Governor DeSantis unhappy.
It turns out Governor DeSantis actually helped Disney put together their lawsuit—though it’s not as you might think.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis gave Disney ammunition in the form of his own memoir to use against him in federal court. The foundation of Disney’s lawsuit is the violation of the First Amendment Act. Their claim is that Florida Governor DeSantis took away their right to free speech. As Newsbreak reported, Disney added Governor DeSantis “took away the company’s ability to self-govern because Disney spoke out against the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law.”
MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace took Governor DeSantis to task,
Today Disney’s lawyers are getting help making their case from a very unlikely person and that is Ron DeSantis. More specifically, his recently published memoir in which he routinely flaunts the idea of a political retaliation campaign — that he thought of all by himself— against Disney. So much so, that the actual lawsuit actually cites pages from his book.
It’s yet another development in one of the most long-drawn-out and riveting battles in a long time.