Ron DeSantis declared war last year on the Left’s woke ideology in the Sunshine State.
As the state’s largest employer, Disney executives tried to use the company’s influence to pressure DeSantis into backing down.
But Ron DeSantis just revealed one jaw-dropping secret about Disney’s CEO that has all hell breaking loose.
The Parental Rights in Education Bill signed into law by Ron DeSantis last year sent Democrats and the left-wing media into a frenzy.
After Democrats falsely misnamed it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, the radical Left started a nationwide campaign to try and force DeSantis not to sign it into law.
Woke Disney employees pressured former CEO Bob Chapek to flex the company’s muscle and use its influence over politicians in Florida to kill the legislation.
Chapek released a statement announcing Disney’s opposition to the bill and said the company would be donating a lot of money to several LGBT organizations.
He also called Ron DeSantis and spoke with him over the phone in hopes of pressuring him to back down from supporting the legislation.
“I called Governor DeSantis this morning to express our disappointment and concern that if the legislation becomes law, it could be used to unfairly target gay, lesbian, non-binary and transgender kids and families,” Chapek said in an interview at the time.
Of course, DeSantis not only signed the bill into law, but he also revoked Disney’s special tax privileges and self-governing status.
Disney eventually fired Chapek and replaced him with former CEO Bob Iger.
But in his new book, The Courage to be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for American Revival, Ron DeSantis revealed one shocking truth about the phone call he had with former Disney CEO Bob Chapek during the battle over the Parental Rights in Education Bill.
DeSantis writes in his book that Chapek actually complained about the “pressure” he faced from the radical Left and woke employees.
“As the controversy over the Parental Rights in Education bill was coming to a head, Chapek called me,” DeSantis writes. “He did not want Disney to get involved, but he was getting a lot of pressure to weigh in against the bill.”
DeSantis said that Chapek admitted that pressure was nothing new, as it happens “all the time” to CEOs of big corporations.
However, Chapek said the backlash to the Parental Rights in Education Bill was unlike anything he ever faced.
“We get pressured all the time,” Chapek told DeSantis. “But this time is different,” he continued, before adding that “I haven’t seen anything like this before.”
DeSantis said he warned Chapek that getting involved would be a bad decision because “people like me will say, ‘Gee, how come Disney has never said anything about China, where they make a fortune?’”
On the other hand, DeSantis told Chapek if he stayed out of it the company would face a short backlash of outrage when the bill passed, but the woke mob would soon find something else to be angry about and forget this issue.
“[And] when I sign it, you will get another 48 hours of outrage, mostly online,'” DeSantis said, before adding, “then there will be some new outrage that the woke mob will focus on and people will forget about this issue, especially considering the outrage is directed at a political-media narrative, not the actual text of the legislation itself.”
Time has proven DeSantis correct.
Bob Chapek would have been wise to heed his warning and stay out of the parental rights in education battle in the Sunshine State.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
