'They’re those people': Vanity Fair rips the DeSantis’ Disney hypocrisy

26 April 2023

On Wednesday Disney sued Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as his feud with the company persists, and Vanity Fair politics correspondent Bess Levin shared her thoughts on why the lawsuit comes as no surprise.

Aside from the fact that DeSantis is "authoritarian, anti-free-speech, anti-business, anti-everything-that-he-doesn't-approve-of," in the words of Levin, the governor also happened to tie the knot with his wife at Walt Disney World.

The potential 2024 GOP candidate's feud with Disney started after the company voiced its opposition against his "Don't Say Gay" law, which originally prohibited lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade.

Recently, the legislation expanded to "ban lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity from grades 4 to 12, unless required by existing state standards or as part of reproductive health instruction that students can choose not to take," according to NBC.

In the lawsuit, the company said, "Disney regrets that it has come to this. But having exhausted efforts to seek a resolution, the Company is left with no choice but to file this lawsuit to protect its cast members, guests, and local development partners from a relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain State officials."

Levin wrote:

Ron and his wife, Casey DeSantis, got married at Disney World. Yes, they’re those people. As he wrote in his memoir: 'Casey's family was what one might call a family of Disney enthusiasts. They loved going to Disney World. Being the dutiful groom, I deferred to her.' DeSantis, though, had one stipulation: 'My only condition was that no Disney characters could be part of our wedding. I wanted our special day to look and feel like a traditional wedding. I didn't want Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck in our wedding photos.'

The politics correspondent further noted recently the governor"threatened to try to change state law in order to subject Disney’s theme park to new inspections," before "suggesting his hand-selected board would look into raising the company's taxes and that the land next to Disney World might be turned into a rival park or perhaps a state prison."

Bess Levin's report is available at this link.

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