The Walt Disney Company has filed a lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over the state’s takeover of the Reddy Creek Improvement District. The district, which covers the Walt Disney World property, had been essentially governed and run by the company until 2023.

However, Disney’s political activism jeopardized their exclusivity. Over the past year, DeSantis and the Florida legislature worked to remove Disney’s special privileges and return the theme park competition to a level playing field. The company fought back recently, attempting to prevent the new board from taking control at the last minute.

DeSantis and the new board revealed that Disney’s maneuvers were likely illegal. Seeing the writing on the wall, the company threw their latest Hail Mary: a lawsuit against DeSantis. The lawsuit alleges that Florida and DeSantis engaged in a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” against the entertainment giant.

In response, DeSantis communications director Taryn Fenske shot back: “We are unaware of any legal right that a company has to operate its own government or maintain special privileges not held by other businesses in the state.” When the new oversight district board met recently, chair Martin Garcia explained that Disney’s previous last-minute attempt to retain control was unlikely to succeed.

“Disney picked the fight with this board. We were not looking out for a fight,” said Garcia, adding “bottom line, what our lawyers have told us, is factually and legally what they created is an absolute legal mess. It will not work.” Disney claims to “regret” that it has come to filing a lawsuit.

“Disney regrets that it has come to this. But having exhausted efforts to seek a resolution, the Company is left with no choice but to file this lawsuit to protect its cast members, guests, and local development partners from a relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain State officials,” the complaint says.

The suit may lead to any number of possibilities, but at the end of the day, it is unlikely Disney will win. It is hard to overturn legislation, especially a bill that served only to subject the company to the same requirements as their competition. Of course, all of this could have been avoided had Disney stayed out of politics.

Disney’s political activism and subsequent legal battle against DeSantis and the Florida legislature may be seen as an attempt to maintain an unfair competitive advantage. Democratic politicians have long weaponized the power of the state against companies they disagree with. When the rules are applied to them, they lash out furiously. However, this is not the first time Disney has faced accusations of retaliating against employees expressing political views unpopular with the company’s executives.

Overall, it seems that Disney’s actions have created more problems for themselves than they may have anticipated. Whether or not they succeed in their legal battle may now be up to the courts.