You gotta hand it to the previous leadership at The Walt Disney Company, they were totally committed to hurting their business in order to score useless political points with a tiny percentage of their customer base.
Just a few years ago, Disney found itself unnecessarily in the middle of a political fight with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The state legislature in 2022 passed the Parental Rights in Education Act, meant to ensure that children were protected from being exposed to inappropriate content at a very young age.
This was immediately labeled the “Don’t Say Gay” act from left-wing critics, apparently desperate to have children in K-3 grades taught about advanced sexual topics. What did this bill have to do with a private company that ostensibly makes family-friendly entertainment and runs all-ages theme parks? Literally nothing. And initially, then-CEO Bob Chapek maintained that the company shouldn’t address it.
But he immediately faced a firestorm of criticism. As well as advocacy from far-left creatives in Hollywood and an organized left-wing employee base to make a statement. He did. And it was awful.
“Florida’s HB 1557, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed into law,” the statement said. “Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that. We are dedicated to standing up for the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida and across the country.”
Well, some new court records have revealed just how much that pointless virtue signaling hurt their business.
The Parental Rights in Education Act, of course, had nothing to do with the “rights and safety” of the LGBTQ+ community. And the backlash and criticism to it was immediate and intense.
Disney had, for decades, enjoyed special privileges with its Walt Disney World propertyWalt Disney World property. Essentially, the state allowed it to self-govern the Reedy Creek district. And as soon as Disney got the state’s attention by announcing their intention to overturn passed legislation that had nothing to do with it, things quickly spiraled.
Florida Politics reported on some new court documents that detail just how much damage that statement caused the company. Disney hired Holtzman Vogel, an expensive law firm, to try to counter the state. They were so concerned about potential state action that “Disney executives felt their future theme park expansions were in jeopardy.”
Imagine, putting highly lucrative expansion plans in jeopardy because you injected your company into a political disagreement that had nothing to do with its core business. Those new court documents revealed that top leadership “voluntarily slowed down expanding the Magic Kingdom because they were hesitant about working with a DeSantis-controlled board.”
DISNEY REPORTEDLY BACKING AWAY FROM CULTURE WARS: ‘POLITICS IS BAD FOR BUSINESS’
In depositions related to a civil lawsuit, “Disney executives said almost nothing about DeSantis personally, or about defending First Amendment rights or the LGBTQ+ community,” according to transcripts reviewed for Florida Politics.
Wonder why they completely avoided discussing the entire reason they were in a disagreement to begin with? Could it have been because they knew how bad their position was and how idiotic the statement came across?
Disney then tried to go around DeSantis by having the current, Disney-friendly Reedy Creek board give approval to do future improvements before the new, state-appointed group took over. John McGowan, chief counsel of the Walt Disney World Resort’s legal department, then removed his name from the development agreement in order to try to downplay his involvement in creating it.
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
Sure enough, the state-appointed board was furious after finding out that Disney had effectively controlled its own improvement agreement. As Florida Politics wrote, “…for years, a Disney attorney was negotiating for both sides of the table when The Mouse and Reedy Creek signed licensing agreements, made deals with power companies, or discussed what government services Reedy Creek provided for Disney.”
While many of the disagreements between the company and DeSantis have been resolved, the setbacks and lawsuits cost Disney years that it could have used to construct new lands or road improvements. It just recently started construction on its announced “Villains Land” at Magic Kingdom, as well as expanding a key street on the west side of the park. Those years of delays mean higher costs, as well as incalculable numbers of potential extra parkgoers who took their spending on tickets, merchandise, parking, food or experiences elsewhere.
They likely spent millions by hiring high-powered lawyers like Holtzman Vogel, or Dan Petrocelli, a partner at white shoe law-firm O’Melveny. All because company leadership got bullied into making a political statement on legislation that had nothing to do with them, had nothing to do with “safety” of LGBTQ+ people in Florida, and has been in effect for four years now with essentially zero controversy or negative impact.
If that doesn’t sum up the failures of modern Disney perfectly, it’s hard to imagine what would.
