House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said this week that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis should "sit down and negotiate" with Disney instead of fighting the company in court.
Disney filed a lawsuit against DeSantis alleging a "targeted campaign of government retaliation" after the company issued a public statement criticizing legislation that the governor supports.
"Why wouldn't you sit down and negotiate and talk?" McCarthy said, referring to DeSantis and Disney. "If there's differences, you can always find ways that you can solve this problem. If you think that the only action is to go to court, I believe that's wrong."
He added that Disney "is a big employer inside Florida. I think the governor should sit down with them. I don't think the idea of building a prison next to a place that you bring your family is the best idea. I think it'd be much better if you sat down and solved the problems."
McCarthy also criticized Disney, saying that companies should "get into politics."
He said, "If you're going to be a large employer inside this state, you should also abide by the rules and run your business and don't think you should get into politics."
The California Republican later said, "You can take whatever position you want, but remember, if you're elected to run a business, that's what your shareholders want you to do."
A spokesperson for DeSantis previously told Newsweek in a statement about the lawsuit: "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. This lawsuit is yet another unfortunate example of their hope to undermine the will of the Florida voters and operate outside the bounds of the law."