South Carolina will divest its $105 million investment portfolio from the “happiest place on earth” in the latest move by Republican officials against what they call Disney’s woke liberal agenda.
South Carolina Treasurer Curtis Loftis, who decided to divest after Disney pulled advertising from X over antisemitic content from users and owner Elon Musk, is looking to turn a symbolic action into a snowballing movement.
“Disney will survive, of course, and the state will survive, but we’re making sure people understand we don’t need this type of imbalance in America,” Mr. Loftis told The Washington Times. “The first guy through the door catches the arrows. You step out front, you stand up for what you think is right and then others often follow.”
The money is a drop in the bucket for the state and Disney. South Carolina’s total investments are about $41 billion, and Disney is worth nearly $170 billion.
“The effect is not really because we sold their debt; it’s another repudiation of Disney,” Mr. Loftis said.
When Disney joined hundreds of other major corporations last month to boycott X, on top of a long grievance list against the company for pushing what conservatives say is a pattern of silencing free speech, Mr. Loftis saw an opportune moment to sever ties.
“They ganged up with Media Matters, Walmart, IBM and other multibillion-dollar corporations with global reach getting together and boycotting X, which is really boycotting working-class people using X as a free speech platform,” he said. “I don’t think you should have billionaires ganging up like hooligans pushing people out of their free speech space.”
Disney did not respond to a request for comment.
South Carolina will allow all its $105 million in Disney bonds to mature over the next two years and direct its money elsewhere under Mr. Loftis’ management. He said he is “evaluating” divestments from similar companies but declined to name them.
Disney has also been in the crosshairs of conservatives over its support of climate-conscious ESG investing, or environmental, social and governance investing.
As for the antisemitic content from Mr. Musk and others on his social media platform, Mr. Loftis has invested $150 million of the state’s money in Israeli bonds since taking office in 2011 and doesn’t believe “there’s an antisemitic bone in Elon Musk’s body.”
“All that is a tempest in the teapot. I am pro-Jew, pro-Judaism, pro-Zionism,” Mr. Loftis said. “I’m as pro-Israel as they come. This is a canard.”
Mr. Musk recently responded to the exodus from X by telling advertisers to “go f—- yourself.”
Among the critics of Mr. Loftis’ divestment decision is South Carolina state Sen. Deon Tedder, a Democrat.
“It just specifically screams political agenda,” Mr. Tedder told local TV affiliate WCIV. “I don’t think that’s a smart move for South Carolina.”
Mr. Loftis rejected that assertion and insisted the financial move “won’t cost the state one penny.”
“I think it’s preposterous. We have the right to invest,” he said. “The left is the one who brought politics into it. They gave us ESG and [diversity, equity and inclusion].”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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