Bob Iger posted one tweet – and blew up a 55-year relationship with the state of Florida.
Then he let the man he handpicked take every hit that followed.
What Iger did next – and what a sitting Florida Republican said about it afterward – is something every Disney fan needs to read.
The Tweet That Ended the Negotiation
In early 2022, Bob Chapek was quietly trying to save Disney's most important government relationship.
He had personally called Governor Ron DeSantis to say Disney didn't want to get involved in the Parental Rights in Education Act fight – but was getting enormous internal pressure to weigh in.
DeSantis confirmed that call in his own memoir, The Courage to Be Free.
Chapek was working the phones, negotiating with Florida legislators to soften the bill, trying to protect the Reedy Creek Improvement District – the self-governing arrangement that had given Disney operational control over its Florida property since 1967.
Then Iger blew it up from his couch.
While Chapek's team was mid-negotiation, Iger – still lurking at Disney as Executive Chairman – went on social media and declared the bill would "put vulnerable, young LGBTQ people in jeopardy."
"The tweet made my job all the harder getting the Florida legislature to soften the bill," Chapek writes in his new memoir, Behind the Castle Walls.
"Governor DeSantis and his allies became even more entrenched," Chapek wrote.
And then Iger went silent.
The Trap
Chapek's account of what followed reads like a corporate ambush.
With Iger's tweet having hardened DeSantis against Disney, Chapek now faced pressure from both directions – Florida Republicans treating Disney as an enemy, and his own employees demanding he take an even stronger public stand.
He tried a middle path: a company memo pledging inclusivity without explicitly attacking the legislation.
https://twitter.com/BoardwalkTimes/status/2102853187145511356?s=20
It satisfied no one.
Disney employees staged protests – which Chapek says he believed were organized by outside political groups, not spontaneous grassroots outrage.
At the March 2022 shareholder meeting, Chapek apologized for not being a stronger ally to LGBTQ rights.
DeSantis labeled Disney a "woke corporation" and moved to seize control of Reedy Creek.
"Bob Iger receded into the background," Chapek writes in the memoir. "Even though his tweet heard 'round the world had sparked the firestorm, during the ensuing legal battle, which spanned months and cost the company tens of millions in legal fees, not to mention untold damage in PR among other demographics, he now remained publicly silent."
The Florida Republican Who Said It Out Loud
This isn't just Chapek settling scores.
The sponsor of the legislation that stripped Reedy Creek – Florida state Rep. Randy Fine – confirmed the account independently in December 2022.
"I don't think we'd be in this situation if Bob Iger had been CEO," Fine said.
Read that again.
Iger spent what Chapek describes as a relentless multi-year campaign as Executive Chairman undermining his successor with Disney's creative community – positioning himself as the woke culture warrior while Chapek tried to protect the company's business interests.
When Chapek was fired in November 2022, Iger swept back in as CEO to a hero's welcome from Hollywood.
https://twitter.com/ScottGustin/status/2102857250817683777?s=20
The same man who torched the Florida relationship replaced the man he torched it through.
What Disney Actually Lost
DeSantis dissolved Reedy Creek in 2023 – a district that had given Disney self-governance over its Florida property since the gates of Walt Disney World first opened.
The replacement board, appointed by DeSantis, handed Florida control over land and permitting decisions that had previously belonged entirely to Disney.
All of it traces back to one Executive Chairman who couldn't resist tweeting while his successor was on the phone with the governor trying to keep the peace.
Conservatives were right about Iger from the beginning.
He didn't care about Disney's business, Disney's workers, or Disney's half-century investment in Florida.
He cared about his reputation with Hollywood – and he used Chapek's job to protect it.
Sources:
- Gabrielle Russon, "Bob Chapek blames ambitious Ron DeSantis and a meddling Bob Iger in Disney fight," Florida Politics, September 30, 2026.
- "Reeling Disney Fires CEO As 'Woke' Culture Blamed For Stock Plunge," Daily Wire, November 2022.
- "Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek Reportedly Complained to Florida Governor About Getting Involved in 'Don't Say Gay' Controversy," WDWNT, 2023.
- "DeSantis camp softens tone toward Disney with Bob Iger back as CEO," Fortune, December 3, 2022.
- "Bob Chapek Blames Iger for His Disney Ouster in Explosive New Memoir," The Wrap, September 2026.
