If Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Chapek really wants to send a message to Florida that he objects to its “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, he’d hit the state where it hurts.

He’d cancel some or all of the entertainment giant’s proposed Florida expansions — and keep those job relocations in California instead.

Chapek was quite clear in his March 11 apology to employees that he was slow in calling out Florida‘s unfortunate legislation to limit grade-school instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity. Florida’s Senate passed the measure and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has signaled he will sign the bill into law.

“It is clear that this is not just an issue about a bill in Florida, but instead yet another challenge to basic human rights,” Chapek wrote in an email addressed to the company’s LGBTQ community. “You needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down. I am sorry.”

Chapek has been a vocal critic of California’s tight business limitations in the pandemic era, which crimped the theme park industry. Disney took a public shot at the state’s perceived anti-business climate when it announced it was moving 2,000 California jobs to a new campus being built in Florida. Generous tax breaks there – reportedly near a half-billion bucks – certainly were part of that relocation equation.

So, now that Chapek seems to have serious reservations about Florida as a place for his employees, shouldn’t he act accordingly — not just with words but with the corporate checkbook?

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA – MARCH 03: Mickey Mouse waves to fans during a parade at Walt Disney World Resort on March 03, 2022 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images for Disney Dreamers Academy)

Of course, Disney is rethinking what political contributions it now makes in Florida. Media reports showed the company had been quite generous, politically speaking, with many of the sponsors of the hideous “Don’t Say Gay” legislation.

Everybody knows jobs and corporate facilities are the real chess pieces in today’s economic gamesmanship between politicians and America’s boardrooms. Disney’s planned Orlando-area facility will host Disney theme parks’ headquarters and its Imagineer designers.

It wouldn’t be hard for Disney to keep many of those workers in Southern California. The relocation isn’t planned for a couple of years, and it’s a good bet many of these Southern California workers won’t be making the cross-country trek.

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Even Gov. Gavin Newsom saw the irony in this situation – with supposedly “pro-business” DeSantis calling out Disney as another “woke” corporation after Chapek issued his apology and Florida critique.

“Disney, the door is open to bring those jobs back to California — the state that actually represents the values of your workers,” Newsom tweeted.

Look, I feel a bit for Chapek, who’s clearly not as comfortable with political skirmishes as his predecessor Bob Iger.

But the job description of running a global entertainment giant calls for deft juggling of political sensitivities as well as trying to placate the government’s whims in his company’s twin hubs — California and Florida. Could there be two more ideologically different places?

I understand why business leaders don’t like California’s pro-consumer/pro-worker culture.

But if bosses supposedly value their workers — especially in an era where employees seem to have some power — corporate leaders should see the value in “progressive” workplace protections, even if they add expenses and complexities to business operations.

Jonathan Lansner is business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at [email protected]