You know that old line about ‘[blank]-ing around and finding out’?
Well — Disney just found out.
It went from bad…
This story began when the media insisted on calling legislation that protected our youngest students from being force-fed information about sexual realites the ‘don’t say gay’ bill.
Of course, at no point in the legislation did it use the word ‘gay’, but the media had a narrative and they were running with it.
For woke Disney and the ‘evil’ right-wing Governor DeSantis, the bait was just too tempting. Disney went all-in. They went to war with DeSantis over the legislation and tried to push values contrary to what the electorate of Florida had given their own elected officials a mandate to accomplish.
That brought ‘woke’ Disney to the attention of Florida’s Governor.
If Disney, a company with an out-of-state HQ felt it could run roughshod in pushing its will ahead of that of individual Floridian voters, it clearly did not take its privileged place in Florida seriously.
Suddenly, Disney went under the microscope. And DeSantis remembered that Disney enjoyed a WHOLE lot of perks that ordinary Floridian companies do not enjoy… like self-government.
A new bill was proposed by Florida politicians on Monday, which would give the governor full control over the district, and the ability to appoint the five-member board of supervisors that run the special district.
The nominees would then need to be confirmed by Florida state senators.
The proposed legislation would keep in place Reedy Creek’s obligation to almost $1 billion of outstanding bonds.
Reedy Creek, which granted sweeping benefits to Disney over the last half century due to the special designation, is governed by five board members elected by local property owners.
Considering most of the land within the special district is owned by Disney and its affiliates, the company is given an unbalanced amount of power over how the area is run and essentially allowed Walt Disney Co. to operate as a form of government.
The new rules proposed in Monday’s bill would prevent anyone who had ties to the theme park from serving on the Reedy Creek board.
‘These actions ensure a state-controlled district accountable to the people instead of a corporate-controlled kingdom,’ DeSantis’ deputy press secretary Jeremy Redfern noted.
If approved, the legislation would permanently eliminate Disney’s ability to self-govern the area spanning Orange and Osceola counties in Florida. — DailyMail
…to worse
While Disney PR was still busy figuring out how to respond to this setback, they took another kick in the teeth.
This one is over censorship of their streaming services in Hong Kong.
“One Angry Lisa,” the second episode of the current season — was not available on the Hong Kong version of the Disney+ streaming service, but it was not clear when it had been removed.
The absence of the episode was first reported by The Financial Times.
In one scene of the episode, the character Marge Simpson is in a virtual bike class during which the instructor shows images of China’s Great Wall and says: “Behold the wonders of China: bitcoin mines, forced labor camps where children make smartphones.”
The Chinese government denies allegations of forced labor, as well as accusations that Hong Kong’s freedoms have eroded under the national security law, which Beijing imposed in 2020 and says was necessary to restore stability after months of anti-government protests.
This is the second “Simpsons” episode with an unflattering China reference to be cut from the streaming service in Hong Kong, a former British colony that was promised a high degree of autonomy when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997. The previous episode, which refers to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and originally aired in 2005, has not been available in Hong Kong since Disney+ launched there in 2021. The service is not available in mainland China. — NBC
Disney doesn’t ever seem to miss an opportunity to spout off — or even utter threats — over political issues where it thinks right-of-center voters are wrong.
But when it comes ot actual slave labor camps in China?
Not a peep.
They have strong moral convictions… so long as those convictions don’t offend their CCP paymasters.
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Sources:
DailyMail
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11719825/Ron-DeSantis-control-Disneys-Reedy-Creek-board-RENAME-it.html
NBC
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hong-kong-disney-simpsons-china-rcna69447
