Jenna Ellis offers to defend Disney against DeSantis administration

Former Trump campaign legal adviser Jenna Ellis offered to defend Disney after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed legislation on Friday dissolving the company’s private government.

“Hi @Disney. Open offer to help defend your right to constitutionally protected speech against Florida’s illegal retaliation,” Ellis tweeted, including a link to a Newsweek story about her split with DeSantis over the legislation. 

Ellis said in a separate post on Wednesday that “Policy and law must be fair and reasonable. Not vengeful” amid the Florida legislature’s efforts to end Disney’s self-government.

She said while she differed with Disney, “they have a right to speak and support or not support legislation without government consequences. Their customers have a right to react with their dollars. DeSantis is over the line here.”

The development comes after Disney said last month that it would be pausing their political donations in Florida over the legislation that curbs instruction in primary schools around gender identity and sexual orientation, saying “We are hard at work creating a new framework for our political giving that will ensure our advocacy better reflects our values.”

The entertainment company rebuked the passage of the law in late March, with a spokesperson for The Walt Disney Company saying it “should never have been signed into law.”

“Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that,” the spokesperson added.

DeSantis, a possible 2024 Republican presidential contender, called Disney’s statement “fundamentally dishonest.”

“For Disney to come out and put a statement and say that the bill should have never passed and that they are going to actively work to repeal it, I think, one, was fundamentally dishonest, but, two, I think that crossed the line,” DeSantis said after Disney released their statement.