After DeSantis signed the bill earlier Monday, the Walt Disney Company wrote in a statement that its “goal” was to repeal or defeat the law in the courts. DeSantis had previously said that Disney “crossed the line” with this statement. On Thursday, DeSantis went further, proposing that Disney’s “special privileges” be lifted. “Disney has alienated a lot of people now,” DeSantis told a news conference in West Palm Beach. “And so the political influence they are used to exercising, I think, has eased. And so the question is, why would you want to have special privileges in law? And I do not think you should.” DeSantis’ remarks follow a revelation that some Republican lawmakers are considering repealing a 1967 state law that introduced the Reedy Creek Improvement District, giving Disney the power to establish its own government in central Florida. “Yesterday was the 2nd meeting in a week [with] “Fellow lawmakers are debating the repeal of the 1967 Reedy Creek Improvement Act, which allows Disney to act as its own government,” state spokesman Spencer Roach, a Republican, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “If Disney wants to embrace the awakening ideology, it seems appropriate that they should be regulated by Orange County.” Lawmakers have just completed their legislative work for the year and will not be able to repeal the law until they meet again next year, unless DeSantis or lawmakers convene a special meeting to address it.
