Florida Passes New ‘Stop WOKE’ Act Which Requires Disney and Other Private Companies to Alter Diversity Training

Spencer Lloyd

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Florida Passes New ‘Stop WOKE’ Act Which Requires Disney and Other Private Companies to Alter Diversity Training


Following almost adversarial comments from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis related to the company’s denouncement of the Parental Rights in Education bill, colloquially called “Don’t Say Gay,” the Florida Legislature has passed a second bill, entitled the “Stop WOKE Act,” targeting Disney and other companies’ diversity training programs.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, House Republican sponsor of the bill Bryan Avila specifically cited Disney’s “Reimagine Tomorrow” program in supporting the bill, saying he’d heard the program was educating about “systemic racism.” The act is designed to limit what companies and educators can say regarding racial issues, particularly Critical Race Theory. In particular, it bans any school or corporation from teaching that “an individual’s moral character or status as either privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by his or her race, color, sex, or national origin.”

Disney bills Reimagine Tomorrow as “our way of amplifying underrepresented voices and untold stories as well as championing the importance of accurate representation in media and entertainment. Because we are all greater than a single story, and we all deserve to feel seen, heard, and understood.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said when the bill was proposed in December, “In Florida, we are taking a stand against the state-sanctioned racism that is critical race theory…we must protect Florida workers against the hostile work environment that is created when large corporations force their employees to endure CRT-inspired’ training’ and indoctrination”, per CBS News.

Critics have argued that the bill is unconstitutional and a “blatant violation of the First Amendment.” This bill comes mere days after the highly controversial bill dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics passed the Florida Legislature. Disney CEO Bob Chapek famously bungled his response and eventual denunciation of the act, and Disney Imagineers have used the outrage to further their case for reversing the company’s move of over 2,000 employees to a new campus in Lake Nona, Florida.

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Author

  • Spencer Lloyd

    Spencer Lloyd is a college student/parks addict living in Tokyo. He runs TDRPlans.com, a comprehensive source for information and travel planning related to Tokyo Disney Resort. And fun fact, he is the only person in history to have been in the same ride vehicle as Tom Corless.

29 thoughts on “Florida Passes New ‘Stop WOKE’ Act Which Requires Disney and Other Private Companies to Alter Diversity Training”

  1. If Florida keeps this up, I might just move there. Moving from California to Texas was great, but Florida is leading the way.

  2. Lite the the spark!!!!! About time someone stud up. By the way no child from pre school to 3 really should be until middle should even have to think about this in a school setting. Thank Rob. Run for president and stop me from paying 4.45 cents for gas.

  3. Yes! We should all thank Rob! Piano Rob’s the best!
    You said Rob right?
    Wait did you actually mean to say Ron?
    Oh Oops. Never mind.

  4. Funny how Ron was against the government telling us to wear mask, but wants the govenment to tell corporations what they can and cant say?

    • The point is no one should be treated differently. Fair enough. Black, white, Hispanic. The point of the bill is to stop the racial rhetoric that is being forced by these corporations. Do you not see how belittling it is to minorities, or are you one of those people that “knows best” for those in these communities?

      • So what you’re saying is that the state should control private citizens and businesses and tell them what to say and how to act? Because it sounds like you are preaching communism here.

        This is what communism is all about, and I’m hearing a “conservative” support it?

        In communist societies, the state controls businesses. It tells them how to act and how to conduct their business. Way to go Putin!

        • So you’d be acceptable for corporations to indoctrinate it’s employees that whites are superior to every other denomination ???? I’m not and I doubt you are also. Very fine line here with Gov’t making laws about speech.

  5. The worst part about visiting Disney is that you have to drive through Florida first.

    These bills are a disgrace, but the real shame is that they’re unsurprising.

  6. Even though I don’t agree with his public school decisions, I can at least see the ability to enforce it based on state funding. How in the world would he be able to enforce what a PRIVATE company can SAY in training? The far right loves to talk about the 2nd amendment so much that they seem to have forgotten the 1st.

  7. It’s not training they are against, it’s the brainwashing. Why should white people apologize for something that happened two hundred years ago when most of their ancestors probably weren’t even in America yet? What does that have to do with job performance and customer relations?

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