P!nk has long stood up for the bullied and the oppressed. So it should come as no surprise that the singer had very harsh words for some protesters who descended on Orlando’s Disney World this weekend waving giant Nazi flags and holding signs supporting Florida Gov. and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis.
“ARE YOU F–KING KIDDING ME????!!!!!!!!,” the singer wrote in a tweet this weekend along with a widely circulated video from democratic State Rep. Anna Eskamani, which shows the small group of protesters standing outside the park’s entrance waving the fascist imagery, and, according to reports, a “DeSantis 2024” flag as well as another that read “DeSantis 2024 Make America Florida,” while using a bullhorn to spread their message.
Eskamani’s post read, “Nazis outside of Walt Disney World right now — absolutely disgusting.” According to the Orlando Weekly, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said that around 15 people gathered outside the theme park, with no incidents reports and the protest petering out within a few hours with no arrests.
“We are aware of these groups that aim to agitate and incite people with anti-Semitic symbols and slurs. They are also aware of the law,” the OCSO reportedly said in a statement. “The Orange County Sheriff’s Office deplores hate speech in any form, but people have the First Amendment right to demonstrate.”
One of the co-founders of Moms Demand Action tweeted a photo of the protest, making note of the pro-DeSantis imagery and other signs with what she described as homophobic and racist slurs. “This is the Republican party of 2023,” she wrote. At press time the paper noted that the DeSantis administration — which has passed a series of laws aimed at limiting the rights of the LGBTQ community — had not commented on the protest.
A number of humanitarian and civil rights organizations have issued travel restrictions on Florida in the wake of DeSantis’ recent statements and legal maneuvers to severely limit discussion of sexual orientation in schools as part of his “anti-woke” agenda via the state’s so-called “don’t say gay” bill. After criticism of that law, DeSantis responded by signing legislation that attempted to strip Disney of its long-held right to self-govern the land the park sits on, setting off a monthslong battle with the one of the state’s biggest employers; DeSantis also later retaliated by suggesting he might build a prison near the park.
See P!nk’s post below.