Disney CEO Bob Iger touted the House of Mouses contributions to the state of Florida on Wednesday and slammed the false narrative GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis is peddling in his ongoing battle with the company.

Does the state want us to invest more, employ more and pay more taxes or not? Iger said during Disneys second-quarter earnings call with Wall Street analysts and investors. Theres ... a false narrative that weve been fighting to protect tax breaks as part of this. But in fact, were the largest taxpayer in Central Florida, paying over $1.1 billion in state and local taxes last year alone.

DeSantis, a likely 2024 Republican presidential candidate, has been ranting against Disney since Igers predecessor as CEO, Bob Chapek, reluctantly spoke out against DeSantis homophobic Dont Say Gay law. The governor took over Disneys special governing district and suggested a prison could be built near Disney World.

Disney sued DeSantis in late April, claiming the governor has been patently retaliatory, patently anti-business and patently unconstitutional . Iger has been stepping up his pushback as well, telling a shareholders meeting last month that DeSantis moves are anti-business and anti-Florida.

There are about 2,000 special districts in Florida, and most were established to foster investment in development, Iger said on Wednesdays call. It basically made it easier for us, and others by the way, to do business in Florida.

And we built a business that employs, as weve said before, over 75,000 people and attracts tens of millions of people to the state. So, while its easy to say that the Reedy Creek Special District that was established for us over 50 years ago benefited us, its misleading to not also consider how much Disney benefited the state of Florida.

Iger boiled down DeSantis grievances: This is about one thing and one thing only, and thats retaliating against us for taking a position about pending legislation.

He added: And we believe that in us taking that position, were merely exercising our right to free speech.

CORRECTION: A prior version of this story incorrectly suggested Iger was CEO of Disney when Florida passed its Dont Say Gay bill. Bob Chapek was CEO at the time.