Bob Iger offers sit-down with Ron DeSantis over Disney dispute

Disney CEO Bob Iger has offered to hash-out his company’s escalating dispute with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). 

“I do not view this as a going-to-mattresses situation for us,” Iger told Time. “If the governor of Florida wants to meet with me to discuss all of this, of course, I would be glad to do that.”

The backstory: Why Ron DeSantis is fighting with Disney

Earlier this year, DeSantis attempted to take away Disney’s autonomy over its property in Florida by removing its special tax district and replacing its board with members with replacements aligned with the governor. But Disney passed an ordinance in the original board’s last hours, stripping itself of nearly all of its power and effectively letting Disney keep its autonomy.

The feud started with DeSantis and other Florida Republicans attacking Disney for its pro-LGBTQ positions and opposition of DeSantis’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans teachers from mentioning sexuality and gender identity in classrooms through up through third grade.

“Our sole goal in Florida is to continue creating that value for all those constituencies. All we want is a relationship with the state that enables us to continue to do that,” Iger said.

“We have the wherewithal and we have the desire to continue to invest there to grow that business so that we can hire more people so that we can increase our attendance, and so that we can basically increase more value for the Walt Disney Company and for the state of Florida,” he added.

“It’s that simple.”

After Disney foiled DeSantis’s plans by removing its own board’s power, DeSantis said he would continue to go after the company.

“There’s a lot of little back and forth going on now with the state control,” DeSantis said at an event last month. “But rest assured — you ain’t seen nothing yet. There’s more to come in that regard.”

DeSantis’s board is now attempting to gain some of that power back.