Walt Disney Co. announced Thursday that the company has dropped all its lawsuits against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, except for its First Amendment rights claim.
The lawsuit will now solely focus on the claim that DeSantis allegedly weaponized his political power to retaliate against the company for exercising its First Amendment right to free speech.
The Walt Disney Co. has dropped most of its claims in its lawsuit against Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. https://t.co/OuB509G2dq
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) September 8, 2023
“A targeted campaign of government retaliation—orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney’s protected speech—now threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights,” the lawsuit said.
Disney had its special privilege revoked in the state earlier this year after harshly criticizing the governor for signing the “Parents Rights” bill, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The Bill refrains schoolteachers from discussing sexuality or gender identity with children.
“We will continue to fight vigorously to defend these contracts, because these agreements will determine whether or not Disney can invest billions of dollars and generate thousands of new jobs in Florida,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC.
The company initially sued DeSantis back in April, making significant alterations to their federal civil complaint, from reducing it’s the length of pages, to revising results by removing claims that Disney had initially put forward in the case.
It’s worth noting that Disney had previously amended their lawsuit back in May, in which they accused DeSantis and his supporters of intensifying their criticisms and attacks.
Although Walt Disney’s claims of contract and due process violations regarding its special taxing district have been dropped, the company assured that those issues will still be discussed in a separate state court lawsuit filed by DeSantis’ oversight board.
The amended lawsuit comes less than a month after DeSantis encouraged Disney to drop their complaint, in an interview with CNBC in August.
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