The Walt Disney Company came under a firestorm of attacks as former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley faced off against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis during the fifth Republican primary debate on Wednesday.
Haley and DeSantis debated at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, as they vie for the GOP presidential nomination. The Republican front-runner, former President Donald Trump, wasn’t present. He instead participated in a Fox News town hall in Iowa. He has yet to attend a GOP primary debate this election cycle.
Showing how much the years-long culture war has permeated politics, Haley and DeSantis spent some of their time onstage attempting to prove who was the biggest critic of Disney, the entertainment behemoth branded “woke” by a faction of conservatives.
In 2022, Disney made headlines for criticizing DeSantis’ Parental Rights in Education bill. The bill, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, says that “a school district may not encourage classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.”
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It also says that parents “may bring an action against a school district to obtain a declaratory judgment that a school district procedure or practice violates this paragraph and seek injunctive relief. A court may award damages and shall award reasonable attorney fees and court costs to a parent who receives declaratory or injunctive relief.”
After DeSantis signed the bill into law in March 2022, Disney, which owns the Disney World theme park in Florida, said in a statement: “Florida’s HB 1557, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed into law. We are dedicated to standing up for the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida and across the country.”
Disney, which continues to be at loggerheads with DeSantis, has since faced criticism from a faction of conservatives angered by the company’s stance.
On Wednesday, debate co-moderator Dana Bash asked DeSantis about his attacks on Disney, prompting the governor to state: “The proper role of government, if it means anything, it is to protect our kids. It’s wrong to sexualize the curriculum.”
“It’s wrong to tell a kindergartner, like Disney wanted to, that you can change your gender, or to tell a third grader that you were born in the wrong body,” he went on. “Disney is the 800-pound gorilla in the state of Florida. Most people, most corporate Republicans would have caved.”
Adding a competitive factor to his denouncement of Disney, DeSantis went on to accuse Haley of having “invited Disney to South Carolina, even though they were involved in trans-ing kids.”
DeSantis also branded Haley as “representative of this corporatist element” of the GOP. “We need to stand up for the people and not bow down to woke corporations, and we know Nikki Haley will cave to the woke mob every single time,” he said.
Hitting back, Haley accused DeSantis of misrepresenting what she has said about transgender children, as she has previously stated that “we shouldn’t have any gender transitions before the age of 18.”
Haley, who previously invited Disney to set up operations in her state amid its battle with the Florida governor, also jumped from defense to attack, when she took DeSantis to task for not having voiced his objections to Disney sooner.
“Disney has been woke for a long time,” she said, before claiming that the company stood against Georgia’s abortion laws and Trump’s immigration policies.
“Ron didn’t have any problem with that,” Haley told the audience. “In fact, he gave them the largest corporate subsidies in Florida history…Yet when they criticized him he got thin skinned and suddenly started to fight back.”
Haley also criticized DeSantis for even taking aim at Disney in the first place, as she spoke out against government interference in business, which has long been touted as a Republican ideal.
“We don’t need government fighting against our private industries,” she said. “We are not woke in South Carolina. I will always invite businesses to come to South Carolina. But the one thing you don’t do is, government doesn’t bully our businesses, and that can’t happen, and Ron is determined.”
Disney CEO Bob Iger, previously addressed allegations leveled at the company, telling CNBC’s Squawk Box last summer: “The notion that Disney is in any way sexualizing our children quite frankly is preposterous and inaccurate.”
On the movie front, Disney has faced fervent criticism from a faction of conservatives for its move to embrace more diverse casting and themes.
Trump, who is a friend of Marvel Entertainment’s former chairman and CEO Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter, called out Disney for “going woke” during a rally in Florida in November.
Disney was also criticized for choosing to cast Halle Bailey in the role of Ariel in the 2023 live-action remake of The Little Mermaid—including from conservative commentator Matt Walsh, who said a Black mermaid wasn’t accurate from a “scientific perspective.”
A December poll found that Trump supporters are not fans of Disney’s more inclusive approach, claiming that its films have dropped in quality. Conducted by Redfield and Wilton Strategies for Newsweek, the poll found that 46 percent of Trump voters felt that Disney movies had gotten “worse” or “much worse,” while 38 percent had an “unfavorable” or “very unfavorable” view of the company.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.