Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday said that Disney CEO Bob Iger should drop his company’s lawsuit accusing the Republican governor of political retaliation.”They’re suing the state of Florida. They’re going to lose that lawsuit,” DeSantis said in an interview with CNBC’s “Last Call” set to air in full at 7 p.m. ET.”So what I would say is, drop the lawsuit,” the governor said when asked what he would tell Iger if he were to give him a call today.”This is a great place to do business,” DeSantis said, citing Florida’s status as the top state economy in CNBC’s latest national survey. The Sunshine State scored eighth overall in CNBC’s ranking of America’s Top States for Business in 2023.”Your competitors all do very well here, Universal, SeaWorld. They have not had the same special privileges as you have,” DeSantis said he’d tell Iger.”So all we want to do is treat everybody the same, and let’s move forward. I’m totally fine with that. But I’m not fine with giving extraordinary privileges, you know, to one special company at the exclusion of everybody else,” he said.Governor and GOP Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis speaks with CNBC’S Brian Sullivan on Aug. 14th, 2023.David A. Grogan | CNBCDeSantis was referencing Walt Disney World’s special tax district, which has become a key battleground in the governor’s long-running feud with one of his state’s top employers.The governor and his allies targeted the district — which has allowed the Orlando-area theme park to essentially self-govern its operations since the 1960s — shortly after Disney denounced a controversial GOP-backed classroom bill last year.Facing pressure from within his company, Disney’s then-CEO Bob Chapek came out against the legislation, which limited classroom discussion of gender and sexual orientation and has been dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics. After the bill was signed in March 2022, Disney vowed to help repeal …
