ORLANDO, Fla. — The yearlong feud between Disney CEO Bob Iger and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will seemingly continue after Iger said some of the presidential candidate’s recent rhetoric was "preposterous and inaccurate."
On Thursday, Iger joined CNBC's "Squawk Box" in a rare sit-down interview where he rejected DeSantis' claims that the company sexualized children, pushed back against claims of low attendance at theme parks and condemned Nazis.
“The last thing that I want for the company is for the company to be drawn into any culture wars,” Iger said in part. “It’s concerning to me that anyone would encourage a level of intolerance or even hate that frankly could even become dangerous action," Iger said in reference to Nazis seen demonstrating outside Disney last month.
“The notion that Disney is in any way sexualizing children, quite frankly, is preposterous and inaccurate,” Iger said.
Iger said that multiple factors play a role in why the number of attendees might appear low.
"If you look at the numbers in Florida in 2023, just recently, versus 2022, where not as much was open and Florida was the only game in town. There is a lot more competition today. So, against 2022, the state of Florida is down," he explained.
On Friday, Disney asked a Florida judge to toss out a lawsuit against the company’s efforts to neutralize a takeover of Disney World’s governing district by Gov. Ron DeSantis and his appointees.
The hearing scheduled for an hour in state court in Orlando involves one of two cases between the Disney and DeSantis or his governing district appointees stemming from the takeover, which was retaliation for the company's public opposition to the so-called Don't Say Gay legislation championed by DeSantis and Republican state lawmakers.
Disney is arguing before Circuit Judge Margaret Schreiber that any decision in state court would be moot since the Republican-controlled Legislature already has passed a law voiding the agreements. If the judge decides not to dismiss the state case, the entertainment giant is asking that the state court case be put on hold until a federal lawsuit in Tallahassee is resolved since they cover the same ground and that lawsuit was filed first.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
