The ultra-woke Disney has just dropped a huge chunk of its federal lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida, but DeSantis is not out of the woods just yet.
Disney amended its lawsuit on Thursday to drop all charges except the claim that Florida violated the company’s free speech rights, according to CNBC.
It appears that Disney dropped all its allegations but the one because it is pursuing similar court cases on the same issues at the state level.
The amended filing takes what was an 84-page lawsuit down to only 48 pages.
The legal battle began last year when Disney decided to fight against a Florida measure protecting children under 10 from the radical LGBT agenda in the state’s schools, a measure that left-wing activists falsely labeled the “don’t say gay” bill.
For the record, the bill doesn’t say “gay” anywhere in it.
DeSantis quickly responded, warning that Disney had “crossed the line” and was “threatening our kids.”
The Parental Rights in Education law went into effect in March 2022 despite Disney’s loud proclamations that kindergarten students should be exposed to inappropriate sexual content at school.
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DeSantis and Florida Republicans eventually took an axe to Disney’s special tax carve-outs and its decades-old private deal with the state to govern its own land holdings, creating a new board to oversee Disney’s properties.
Disney tried to move quickly, though, and loaded up a special deal with the previous board before they were replaced in order to circumvent the new board. But DeSantis voided that sneaky contract.
The latter move spurred Disney to launch a raft of lawsuits, both in state and federal courts, to thwart DeSantis’ new control over the area where Disney World sits.
The company started with its federal lawsuit in April but has since filed similar lawsuits in state court alleging that Florida committed a breach of contract by canceling the deals Disney hastily pushed through ahead of the board changeover.
The new board said it agreed with Disney’s decision to eliminate most of the federal allegations.
“Disney’s latest legal move puts them in line with the position of what the district has been advocating for months now: that these matters should be decided in state court. We hope this helps expedite justice for the people of Florida,” district spokesman Alexei Woltornist said.
DeSantis is likely celebrating this news, but Disney is still accusing him of retaliating against the company for exercising its freedom of speech and criticizing the education bill.
And that is still a big charge hanging over DeSantis’ head as he campaigns for president.
