Disney CEO Bob Iger said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ attacks on the company threaten its plans for $17 billion of investment and 13,000 new jobs at Disney World over the next 10 years.

In comments Wednesday during a call with investors, Iger defended Disney as Florida attempts to wrest control of powers granted to a special taxing district overseeing Disney World’s zoning decisions. Disney and Florida are locked in a legal battle.

Iger did not mention DeSantis by name or explicitly say Disney is reconsidering its planned investment. But he said Florida is acting unfairly to the company and asked: “Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people and pay more taxes or not?”....
Last month, Disney sued the state of Florida in federal court, charging that the state is illegally trying to punish the company for exercising its First Amendment rights to oppose legislation backed by DeSantis and the Republican-controlled legislature in the state.

The legislation at issue, passed last year, limited discussions of LGBTQ issues in Florida schools, a bill that opponents referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.....

“Our primary goal has always been to be able to continue to do exactly what we’ve been doing,” said Iger. “We have a huge opportunity to continue to invest in Florida. I noted that our plans were to invest $17 billion over the next 10 years, which is what the state should want us to do. We operate responsibly. We pay our fair share of taxes. We employ thousands of people there.”