Disney is appealing a federal judge’s dismissal of its free speech lawsuit over Gov. Ron DeSantis’ takeover of Walt Disney World’s governing district.

Disney on Thursday appealed a judge’s dismissal of its free speech lawsuit over what it described as Gov. Ron DeSantis’ retaliatory takeover of Walt Disney World’s governing district, as the Florida governor separately called any appeal “a mistake.”

“They were wrong and we were right,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Jacksonville a day after the ruling. “They should move on.”

Disney filed a notice of appeal over Wednesday’s ruling by a federal judge in Tallahassee, saying that it would set a dangerous precedent if left unchallenged by giving states the green light to weaponize their powers to punish opposing viewpoints. A separate lawsuit over who controls the district also is still pending in state court in Orlando.

Disney had argued that legislation signed by DeSantis and passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature transferring control of the Disney World governing district from Disney supporters to DeSantis appointees was in retaliation for the company publicly opposing the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law. The 2022 law banned classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades and was championed by DeSantis, who had used Disney as a punching bag in speeches on the campaign trail until he recently suspended his campaign for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

  • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
    17·
    10 months ago

    Disney’s Imagineers probably already have plans to lift-and-shift the entire operation somewhere less hostile.

    And it’ll happen overnight. One day Disney World is in Florida, the next day it’s on a floating island off the coast. Imagineers are good at stuff like that.

    • sawdustprophetEnglish
      14·
      10 months ago

      And it’ll happen overnight. One day Disney World is in Florida, the next day it’s on a floating island off the coast.

      Until the very end of that my brain was definitely going in a “BioShock Infinite Columbia escapes into the clouds” direction.

    • ____@infosec.pub
      2·
      10 months ago

      Can’t think of a lot of onshore places that would fit the bill in terms of weather and political climate but…

      Remember Sealand? To date we’ve mostly built offshore platforms for the sake of fossil fuels, but I’m not aware of a practical reason they couldn’t just build what amounts to a drilling platform, without the drilling and at a meaningful scale.

      Or, screw it, international waters on the seafloor - who’s going to stop them from declaring independence? They even foreshadowed it with Ariel.

      • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
        3·
        10 months ago

        The tech Disney’s been using for TV shows, plus their new floor technology, could be used to turn old malls into mini theme parks.

        Instead of one Disney World in one place, they could have a hundred of them scattered across the country.

      • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
        12·
        10 months ago

        Nah, doing stuff overnight. One day it’s normal Disney World, the next day it’s Christmas Disney World. Overnight, and you don’t see any of it happening.