Gov. Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.) on Thursday slammed Disney and other "woke corporations" that oppose Florida's Parental Rights in Education bill even as they rake in money from the Chinese Communist Party.
"In Florida, our policy's going to be based on the best interest of Florida citizens, not on the musing of woke corporations," DeSantis said in a video first obtained by Fox News. "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."
Disney CEO Bob Chapek on Wednesday reached out to DeSantis to express "disappointment and concern" over the Florida bill, which prohibits curricula on gender ideology or sexual orientation from kindergarten through third grade.
"You have companies, like at Disney, that are going to say and criticize parents' rights, they're going to criticize the fact that we don't want transgenderism in kindergarten, in first-grade classrooms," DeSantis said Thursday. "If that's the hill they're going to die on, then how do they possibly explain lining their pockets with their relationship from the Communist Party of China?"