Video Shows Nazi Protesters With Ron DeSantis 2024 Signs Outside Disney

A group of protesters was spotted outside Florida's Walt Disney World theme park on Saturday, brandishing signs with Nazi imagery and messaging in support of Governor Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, has been embroiled in a heated feud with the Walt Disney Company for over a year after the entertainment conglomerate spoke out against Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act, better known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill. In response, DeSantis took aim at the Disney World theme park near Orlando, pushing legislation that dissolved the special self-governance zone around the park that gave Disney extensive autonomy in managing the land.

Disney has consistently met DeSantis's moves with its own legal maneuvers, culminating in a lawsuit recently filed against the Florida state government alleging that it has been unlawfully targeted with political action in retaliation for the company exercising its right to free speech. The situation has led many observers to argue that the conflict has damaged DeSantis's credentials as a political leader. For his part, the governor dismissed the suit as "political" and without merit.

"The days of putting one company on a pedestal with no accountability are over in the state of Florida," DeSantis said.

On Saturday, numerous images and videos began circulating on social media showing a small crowd of protesters near the large sign denoting the entrance roadway to Disney World. Multiple protesters carried signs and flags with Nazi imagery, including swastikas. Others carried signs and banners featuring DeSantis's face and messages supporting his 2024 presidential campaign.

Newsweek reached out to DeSantis's office via email for comment.

Anna V. Eskamani, a Democratic Florida State Representative whose district is situated in the Orlando metropolitan area, was among the first to share a video of the gathered crowd.

"Nazis outside of Walt Disney World right now — absolutely disgusting," Eskamani wrote.

"DeSantis's Florida. Where Nazis come to Disney," Daniel Uhlfelder, a Democratic lawyer who ran in Florida's attorney general race last year, added in his own tweet.

"Two dozen white supremacists are outside the main Disney World entrance in Orlando right now, marching with signs featuring Gov DeSantis's face, swastikas, the n-word and homophobic slurs," activist and organizer Shannon Watts tweeted. "This is the 2023 Republican Party."

The incident on Saturday was considerably similar to a group of protesters who gathered near the same Disney World sign in May 2022, at the start of the governor's feud with the company. Protesters at that gathering also carried signs with swastikas and others that read "DeSantis Country." The governor had, prior to that incident, refused to denounce Nazi flags at another gathering in Orlando.