Colorado governor invites Disney to move to state to escape Florida’s ‘authoritarian’ policies

Both Disney and Twitter have been invited by Colorado to relocate there after Florida governor Ron DeSantis issued threats toward both companies for allegedly “woke” behaviour.

Taking to Twitter, Colorado governor Jared Polis invited the two companies to move to the Centennial State following threats issued by the Republican on Tuesday.

“Florida’s authoritarian socialist attacks on the private sector are driving businesses away,” Mr Polis wrote, inviting both companies to move to his state. “In Colorado, we don’t meddle in affairs of companies like Disney or Twitter”.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mr DeSantis attacked Twitter after its board activated a “poison pill” plan to block a $43bn (£32bn) takeover bid from Tesla founder Elon Musk, who he alleged was a “liberator”.

“We’re gonna be looking at ways the state of Florida potentially can be holding these Twitter board of directors accountable for breaching their fiduciary duty,” the Republican politician said of the takeover, which has been seen as hostile. “The state of Florida and our pension system, we have shares of Twitter”.

The Republican also directed Florida’s legislators to “terminate” unique privileges held by Disney World in Orlando on Tuesday because of the company’s criticism of an anti-LGBT+ law known as “Don’t Say Gay”.

The state legislature had already been due to consider congressional redistricting plans this week before Mr DeSantis acted on earlier threats to strip Disney World of its special zoning status for being “woke”, as The New York Times reported.

Florida’s governor said Disney “crossed the line” in recent weeks after its CEO Bob Chapek voiced support for repealing his “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which limits LGBT+ issues from being discussed in schools.

The company has also reportedly stopped funding for Republicans who supported the bill – including Mr DeSantis himself. He is widely seen as a possible 2024 presidential contender.

Mr Polis added on Tuesday: “Hey Disney we’re ready for Mountain Disneyland and Twitter we’re ready for Twitter HQ2, whoever your owners are.”

The Independent has approached Disney for comment.