Former Disney CEO Chapek complained to DeSantis about ‘pressure’ to criticize Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill: book

According to DeSantis’ new memoir, former Disney CEO Bob Chapek privately complained to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis about the pressure he faced to speak out against Florida’s parental education bill, known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

According to Fox News, in his book The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Resurgence, due out Tuesday, DeSantis recounts a personal conversation he had last year with Chapek, who remained silent on the bill.

“When the controversy surrounding the Parental Rights in Education Bill was at its height, Capek called me. He didn’t want Disney to get involved, but he was under a lot of pressure to oppose the bill,” DeSantis wrote.

“We’re under pressure all the time,” Chapek told DeSantis, according to the governor’s book. “But this time it’s different. I have never seen anything like it before.”

Disney did not respond to requests for comment.

At first, Chapek tried to stay on the sidelines, but LGBTQ staff and advocates put pressure on the chief executive last March, saying the bill was about human rights. The bill would ban teachers from discussing LGBTQ topics, such as sexual orientation or gender identity, with students until the end of third grade.

During the hand-to-hand fight, DeSantis issued a warning that Disney was interfering with the law. “People like me will say, ‘Gee, why didn’t Disney say anything about China, where they make their fortune?'” DeSantis told Chapek, according to the book.

DeSantis wrote that Capek and Disney “eventually succumbed to left-wing media and activist pressure and countered the bill with false information.”

“Behind the scenes, as a father to kids aged five, four and two, I wasn’t happy with the continuation of Disney’s special deal,” DeSantis wrote in his memoir.

“While the Walt Disney Company and its leaders had the right to indulge in activism upon awakening, Florida didn’t need to put the company on a pedestal while they did, especially when the company’s activism affected parental rights and the well-being of children. children,” DeSantis added.

Chapek has apologized to the LGBTQ community several times and as a result promised to suspend all political donations in Florida.

“It is clear that this is not just a bill in Florida, but another challenge to basic human rights,” Chapek said at the time. “You needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights, and I let you down. I’m sorry.”

DeSantis signed the law into law on March 28 last year, prompting Disney to publicly break the new law and support employees and advocates for the Disney LGBT community in Florida.

In response, DeSantis has publicly stated that he is open to reconsidering Disney’s special tax district called Reedy Creek and lucrative corporate deals due to his insistence on “awakened” political activism.

In late 2022, Chapek was replaced by longtime CEO Bob Iger. In November, Iger told Disney staff that he didn’t like House of Mouse being “involved in controversy” and that he “would work to calm things down.”

But DeSantis continued, signing legislation on Monday to strip Disney World of its control of Reedy Creek.

In his book, Florida’s governor says the lesson of the Disney saga is that in an “awakening capital” environment where big companies use their influence to advance left-wing political agendas, “old guard corporate republicanism is not up to the task.” “.

DeSantis, a rumored 2024 presidential candidate, has yet to announce whether he will run.