Florida Governor Ron DeSantis lambasted the Walt Disney Company “woke” at a Thursday rally in Boca Raton, after Disney expressed disapproval of the Parental Rights in Education bill during the company’s shareholders meeting on Wednesday. Exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, the video
DeSantis’ swipe against Disney comes just a day after Disney CEO Bob Chapek said that he will be meeting with the Florida Gov. To discuss the bill, Florida school faculty cannot discuss sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. After having passed the House last month and passing the state Senate, Tuesday’s bill passed the state Senate. DeSantis’ spokesperson, Christina Pushaw, confirmed on Wednesday that the two spoke but said “The governor’s position has not changed.”
In his Boca Raton speech, DeSantis doubled down.
“The chance that I am going to back down from my commitment to students and back down from my commitment to parents’ rights simply because of fraudulent media narratives or pressure from woke corporations — the chances of that are zero,”He said.
“When you have companies that have made a fortune off being family-friendly and catering to families and young kids,” DeSantis continued. “They should understand that parents of young kids do not want this injected into their kid’s kindergarten classroom.”
“And so in Florida, our policies got to be based on the best interest of Florida citizens, not on the musing of woke corporations,”He finished.
Republicans and DeSantis defended the bill, arguing that it bans only “planned lessons”On sexuality, critics claim that the bill is intended to suppress discussions about LGBTQ+ youth.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek spoke out against the bill Wednesday in the company’s shareholder meeting for the first time publicly, after facing significant blowback for the company’s previous silence on the bill and an internal memo defending that silence. Chapek also stated that Disney intends to donate $5 Million to LGBTQ+ groups.