Disney has “lost” its culture war row with Florida after taking up a “left political agenda”, Attorney Julian Epstein has claimed.
The corporation has been embroiled in a bitter legal feud with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis after they opted to criticised a state bill on sexual identity.
The bill looked to limit classroom discussion of sexuality and gender issues for younger students.
Epstein told GB News that Disney adopted its stance from Hollywood, where he says leftist views are rife.
Julian Epstein spoke to Patrick Christys
GB NEWS
“It was a bill that was very popular in Florida, not just with Republicans but with many Democrats”, he said.
“Disney decided to wade in and oppose and end up losing the fight.
DeSantis was embroiled in a row with Disney
PA“Part of that ongoing controversy is seeing the Governor of Florida imposing rules that would crack down on the self-governance Disney has.
“Florida took it away and Disney claimed it was political retaliation. The Governor said that if Florida were going to be political actors, they’re certainly not going to get privileges from the state.
“Disney has been engaged in this fight and becoming the epitome of you go woke you go broke.
“Disney has lost according to some reports around 50 per cent of its market cap, they have become very politically active.”
Disney were stripped of its special self-governing status and gave DeSantis the authority to appoint a new tourist board with oversight of the area.
The company went on to sue DeSantis in April, asking a federal court to overturn state efforts to exert greater control over the Walt Disney World theme parks.
They accused DeSantis of a “campaign to weaponise government power”.
The battle resulted in positive approval ratings for DeSantis, with 44 per cent of Republican respondents in an April Reuters/Ipsos poll saying they had a more favourable view of him because of the row.
In another escalation, Disney announced its decision to sue its own government for records.
The corporation accused the DeSantis-appointed Central Florida Tourism Oversight District of taking months to respond to public records requests and self-selecting which records the board releases.