Sunny Hostin claimed Monday that Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was only pushing back on Disney because he — and other Republicans — were trying to cover up social injustice.
Hostin and her cohosts on ABC daytime talk show “The View” responded to the news that the Florida legislature moved late last week to strip Disney of its special tax status, and they argued that it was a move designed to stymie public awareness of social injustices.
FLORIDA REVOKES DISNEY’S SPECIAL TAX STATUS: Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill to dissolve Walt Disney World’s private government after the company opposed a new state law critics have dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” – #TheView co-hosts and @ambermruffin weigh in. https://t.co/gHzV4IYF8b pic.twitter.com/oh1GpJI1rq
— The View (@TheView) April 25, 2022
“So Florida governor Ron DeSantis is punishing our parent company, Disney, for speaking out against his so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law. He revoked Disney’s special status that could cost Florida taxpayers $2 billion. This goes against the GOP’s brand of being business-friendly. Now can he win this culture war? Because he’s taking on the mouse, and the mouse is bigger than Ron DeSantis,” co-host Joy Behar began.
“Well, there’s a difference between being a mouse and a rat,” Ana Navarro replied.
Navarro went on to claim that DeSantis, in her mind, was just trying to position himself for future political runs and was doing so by championing “manufactured culture wars.”
“And it’s not like Disney went on an all-out war against this bill. The CEO made a few statements. They weren’t running ads. This was minimal, and he, you know, this war against Disney, and it’s against Disney,” Navarro continued. “The bill, the law was crafted in a way – they’re taking away the special tax status where it only affects Disney and about four other special taxing districts. There are 1,844 special taxing districts in Florida, and so it was to penalize and take revenge against Disney for having dared cross a pet legislative cause of theirs. And that is wrong. It’s anti-American. It’s what happens in Venezuela, it’s what happens in Nicaragua.”
Hostin jumped in then, saying that the specific targeting of Disney was intentional.
“I can explain why it’s happening. It’s because bigotry is on the ballot when it comes to Ron DeSantis, right?” she said. “That’s what this is about. It’s not anti-Disney. It’s anti-black. It’s anti-gay. It’s anti-LGBTQ+ plus community, and for some reason, the Republican base responds to it. It’s anti-woke, and woke, what that really means when you look it up in the dictionary, it’s an awareness of social justice. It’s an awareness of marginalized communities. It’s an awareness, and for some reason Ron DeSantis and his Republican base, they don’t want people to know that there are social injustices going on.”
Hostin went on to argue that the goal was to make sure that those people could not be protected, calling it “shameful.”
“It is so shameful that they don’t want our children to know about social injustice. That’s what this is about,” she added.
“That’s what’s so smart about it. I think it was a genius freaking move. All you have to do is create a bogeyman, and then say, I’m going to protect you from the bogeyman,” guests co-host Amber Ruffin added. “It was black people, it’s LGBTQ+. It’s the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ – whatever is on the menu, like, if I were to say, your mailman is going to kill you. Only I can protect you from your mailman. You would be, like, my goodness. This man comes to my house every day. Somebody save me, and that’s what they’re doing. They’re riling up their base with anger, and if you are angry, we’re angry.”
“It’s politicizing fear,” Navarro added.
(Disclosure: The Daily Wire has announced plans for kids entertainment content.)