Disney CEO Bob Iger blasted Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday in some of the strongest statements he has made since the Florida leader’s war with the entertainment giant began.

Iger rejected DeSantis’ claims that the company sexualizes children, pushed back against a report that the battle with the governor has led to lower theme park attendance, and condemned the Nazi group that demonstrated outside Walt Disney World.

In the sit-down interview with CNBC the day after his contract was renewed at The Walt Disney Co. until 2026, Iger said DeSantis’ repeated allegation that Disney is “in any way sexualizing children, quite frankly, just is preposterous and inaccurate.”

“It’s not our goal to be involved in a culture war,” Iger added. “Our goal is to continue to tell wonderful stories and have a positive impact on the world.”

DeSantis told the group Moms for Liberty last month, “we’re not going to have the sexualization of our children in our schools. … And there happens to be a company in Central Florida some of you may be familiar with, called Disney, that didn’t like that.”

A line in DeSantis’ book that Disney was “indoctrinating very young schoolchildren in woke gender identity politics,” was cited by Disney in its lawsuit against the state and the governor’s hand-picked tourism board as proof of a targeted campaign against them.

A political committee supporting DeSantis also claimed in an ad that Disney adds “secret sexual content” to their films

Iger defended the company’s previous CEO Bob Chapek who criticized the so-called “don’t say gay” bill shortly after its passage in 2022, but he added, “I’m not sure it was handled very well.”

The bill, which was signed into law by DeSantis, prohibits instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity in schools up to the third grade and allowed the state Board of Education to ban it in all grades this year.

“Frankly, the company was within its right … to speak up on an issue,” he said. “A constitutionally protected right of free speech. And to retaliate against the company in a way that would be harmful to the business was not something that we could sit back and tolerate.”

Disney‘s lawsuit against DeSantis and his tourism board alleges the state targeted the company by stripping it of its control of its quasi-government, the Reedy Creek special district.

In response, the outgoing board voted to give Disney control of the district until 21 years after the death of King Charles III’s youngest living descendent, a move that embarrassed state officials and led to a countersuit against the company.

“We’ve filed a lawsuit to protect our First Amendment rights there and to protect our business,” Iger said. “… We’ve operated for almost 100 years as a company making products that we actually are proud of in terms of [their] impact on the world.”

Iger added he was “horrified” to see Nazi groups gathering outside Walt Disney World last month, waving swastika flags alongside a “DeSantis 2024” flag.

“Quite frankly, it’s concerning to me that anyone would encourage a level of intolerance or even hate that … could be turned into some dangerous act of some sort,” Iger said.

Iger also pushed back against a Wall Street Journal report suggesting a downturn in Walt Disney World attendance because of the controversy.

“We see no sign of that at all,” he said, citing overall decreases in Florida tourism with more states fully opening up as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes. He also noted that hotel tax revenue across the state has dropped 6% to 7% over the last year.

“There’s a lot more competition today,” he said. “We also know that our competitors are discounting. … So there are some near-term issues in Florida that I don’t think had anything to do with politics.”

Iger may have other problems to deal with in the coming weeks, as the actors’ union voted Thursday to join writers in a strike that will shut down Hollywood productions.

Iger, who could make $31 million a year with incentives and bonuses in his new contract, according to The Hollywood Reporter, said an actors’ strike would be “disturbing,” adding, there is “a level of expectation that they have, that is just not realistic.”