Disney World Suffers Court Loss

Image: PHOTO: Walt Disney World entrance. (photo via Manakin/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus)
Image: PHOTO: Walt Disney World entrance. (photo via Manakin/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus)
Rich Thomaselli
by Rich Thomaselli
Last updated: 11:45 AM ET, Sat July 29, 2023

Chalk one up for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

A Florida judge has ruled against Walt Disney Company in its quest to have a lawsuit against the DeSantis-appointed oversight committee dismissed.

It’s all part of the ongoing feud between the entertainment giant and the governor, which began last year when Disney publicly challenged one of the governor’s policies. It has devolved ever since into a raging tit for tat. DeSantis stripped Disney of its self-governing powers and ability to set its own bond raid and taxes and even run its own fire departments. He installed an oversight committee filled with his sympathizers and backers. And here we are in court.

The ruling still allows a Disney lawsuit directly against the governor.

A spokesperson for the oversight committee declined comment, but a spokesman for Walt Disney World said: "We are fully confident Disney will prevail in both the federal and state cases."

DeSantis, who is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has repeatedly called the company ‘Woke Disney’ for its extremely liberal views.

The former autonomous Reedy Creek Improvement District is now known as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District run by political allies of the governor.

Disney claims in its original contract from more than 50 years ago that it has the right to set its own agenda until the end of the British monarchy.

Disney filed a federal lawsuit against the governor last year and claims that he abused his power and weaponized the state against the company. Disney is asking the court to reinstate the original contract.

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