Disney Takes Another Shot At Florida As Legal Battle Escalates
Disney is asking for a lawsuit by a special district board appointed by Ron DeSantis to be dismissed or paused.
Things have been heating up in the muggiest state, with even more ill-will being thrown between Disney and Florida’s Governor, Ron DeSantis. According to Deadline, the House of Mouse and the Sunshine State have been held in a legal property battle that has been raging on for some time now. The most recent update is that the Walt Disney Co. is asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit that was hurled against its Florida resort property.
Essentially, the motion filed by Disney claims that while their lawsuit against the state of Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis is resolved, this new case should be put on the back burner. The possible second case could, as Disney’s legal team said on Tuesday, have some crossover material that first needs to be settled in the battle against DeSantis.
The initial property dispute broke out last month when Disney clashed head-to-head with Florida’s Governor after he attempted to use his power to take away control of their Reedy Creek Improvement District. The company has long been in control of the property for over five decades, holding their own elections for political leaders.
According to Disney, the water began to boil over for the company and the state’s leader after they took a staunch stand against DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” bill which will negatively affect the LGBTQ+ community – a group of people that the Governor has been inarguably coming after since his time in office began.
The initial filing began what can only be described as a ping-pong effect with both Disney and Florida bouncing the legal ball back and forth seemingly looking to find out who can sue who first. Taking a shot back at the Happiest Place on Earth, DeSantis took steps to block future development contracts for Disney – another discussion that will soon have its day in court.
The latest Disney vs. Florida news comes hot on the heels of another Mickey Mouse-centered showdown that is currently seeing a teacher face the wrath of DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” law. As we reported, a fifth-grade teacher in Hernando County named Jenna Barbee took her unfair story to TikTok recently to slam the school district that is now launching an internal investigation against her after she screened the animated Disney movie Strange World for her classroom.
It was just a throw-away day after standardized testing that Barbee asked her students to bring in signed permission slips allowing them to watch a PG movie.
As innocent as the Disney movie is, the Florida Department of Education is up in arms with Barbee’s choice in film after a student (whose parent is a member of the school board) shared that they watched the movie, which very low-key features a boy having a crush on another boy.
While the overarching themes of the title are family dynamics, adventure, and facing the unknown with an eager desire to learn, the education system didn’t see it that way and now Barbee is in hot water for showing the Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jaboukie Young-White, Lucy Liu, and Alan Tudyk-led film.
