Last week, the editorial board of the Orlando Sentinel issued a scathing takedown of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for pursuing a politically-motivated vendetta against Disney for its decision to speak out against the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.

DeSantis has targeted Florida’s biggest employer out of spite in response to its former CEO coming out publicly against the “Parental Rights in Education” law banning or limiting discussions of LGBTQ identity in schools.

The bill, which has since become law is commonly referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek initially sought to remain neutral on the proposed legislation out of fear of offending Republican politicians, who, before the passage of the law, had historically been supportive of the company.

But Disney faced an internal backlash from its LGBTQ employees and their allies, who blasted the company for its failure to speak up against the law, which critics say will stifle the free speech of LGBTQ students and teachers, “out” students prematurely against their will, and lead administrators to punish or deny equal access to LGBTQ students who are open about their identities.

As a result, Chapek apologized for the company’s inaction. Disney then issued a statement calling for the repeal of the law.

DeSantis — who is rumored to have presidential ambitions and has made opposition to LGBTQ rights an essential part of his branding — subsequently set his sights on Disney, attempting to punish the company by having his Republican allies in the legislature strip Walt Disney World Resort of its status as an “independent special district.”

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He also repeatedly accused the larger company of seeking to “indoctrinate” children with its programming and movie offerings, especially those featuring LGBTQ characters.

Previously, Disney had been allowed to appoint its own local government board regulating property, collecting taxes, and providing emergency services to Disney-affiliated properties on what used to be known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District. The district encompasses a portion of 25,000 acres in Orange and Osceola counties that house most of Disney’s theme parks and accommodations.

When the Republicans repealed that special status, they set up a framework under which DeSantis could appoint the members of a governing board overseeing the renamed Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

It was expected that DeSantis appointees would impose their own agenda and perhaps seek to influence Disney’s programming and the types of attractions at Disney World. 

But in the latest twist in the long-standing drama between Florida and Disney, the outgoing board of the Reedy Creek Improvement District passed a binding agreement handing Disney total power over development decisions on Disney-owned properties.

The declaration is valid until “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England.”

Outraged at being outmaneuvered, DeSantis called for an investigation into Disney and pledged to reassert control over the special tax district.

Most recently, the DeSantis-appointed board has announced it intends to pass a resolution grabbing back some of that control by giving the board “superior authority and control” over planning, zoning, and land use decisions in the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, where most of Disney’s major theme parks are located.

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Determination of who actually controls the district and has say over development projects is likely to be settled in court, with both sides already hiring lawyers in expectation of a prolonged legal fight.

Current Disney CEO Bob Iger has attacked DeSantis as “anti-business” at a recent shareholder meeting, asserting that Republicans in the Sunshine State are simply retaliating against the company for holding a position counter to their own, reports CNN.

“The company has a right to freedom of speech just like individuals do,” Iger said. “The governor got very angry about the position that Disney took, and it seems like he’s decided to retaliate against us… in effect to seek to punish a company for its exercise of a constitutional right. And that just seems really wrong to me – against any company or individual, but particularly against a company that means so much to the state that you live in.”

In response to the ongoing drama, the editorial board of the Orlando Sentinel published an editorial dragging the governor for his fixation on Disney, and, to a larger extent, on culture-war issues.

The board criticized DeSantis for his attempts to strip Disney of all self-autonomy, arguing that he wants to waste money “on a small army of very expensive attorneys” instead of focusing on more pressing issues.

“Whenever you happen to be in Florida, focus on your actual job: Running a massive state government where people are dying every day of drug overdoses and mass shootings that you barely acknowledge,” the editorial reads. “Where school boards across the state are grimly awaiting the final price tag of the economically reckless voucher bill you just signed. Where insurance rates are skyrocketing and damage claims from back-to-back hurricanes are being summarily denied. Where, every day, we’re discovering more cracks your machinations have inflicted on the fundamental integrity of Florida’s own government.”

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The newspaper’s editorial board also claimed DeSantis’s war on Disney could potentially put the state at economic risk, given the number of Floridians employed by the company.

“If Disney executives had responded to DeSantis in the same vengeful vein — by pulling back even a small fraction of the resources the company has invested in Florida — the economic wreckage could have been massive,” the editorial board wrote.

Making repeated references and puns incorporating the names of Disney characters in a tongue-in-cheek manner, the editorial board accused DeSantis aides and allies of not paying close enough attention to the machinations of the old Reedy Creek board.

“Clearly, the governor thought he’d written the perfect fairy tale and cast himself as the hero — only to discover that Disney executives flipped the script,” the editorial board wrote.

“Stop letting your inner Donald control your behavior. (In this case, we mean Donald Duck.) All you’ve managed to do so far is create a situation where Disney has more control, and potentially more secrecy, than it ever did,” the editorial concludes. “No matter how you try to play this, it seems apparent that you were outplayed.