South Carolina will pull $105M of taxpayer funds out of Disney after Republican leaders slammed House of Mouse for suspending ads on Elon Musk's X - and 'taking away working class people's voice'

South Carolina will not be investing in The Walt Disney Company any longer after removing the media company from the state's financial portfolio.

The decision, aired by State Treasurer Curtis Loftis, will see $105million of taxpayer funds the state had in place for Disney repaid and not replaced. 

It comes in response to Disney's decision to pull ads from X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, due to a series of comments made by Elon Musk many perceived to be anti-Semitic.

Musk, 52, went on to raise eyebrows again last week, when he rebuked Disney and others pulling ads from it while speaking at the 2023 DealBook Summit. There, he appeared to take a jab at House of Mouse CEO Bob Iger, who spoke earlier in the day.

'Don't advertise,' Musk told the crowd, as firms like Airbnb and Amazon haves also halted their advertising. 'Somebody’s gonna try to blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f*** yourself. Is that clear? Hope it is. Hi, Bob!'  

Explaining the move Tuesday, Loftis, 65, accused Iger, 72, of stifling the voice of the American people, seemingly standing in solidarity with the outspoken South African.

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The state's banker told ABC15 News: 'Twitter allows working and middle-class people to have a voice, [and] I don't think it's the billionaire's place to take that away. 

'So, we decided we are not going to participate with Disney.'

When asked further about the maneuver, the veteran, four-term treasurer explained how his office would '[allow] this debt to roll off' and mature, not costing taxpayers a dime.

'It doesn't cost the state anything, because it was going to mature anyway,' Loftis explained, referring to the debt instruments - another term for investment of anything used to raise capital.

He went on to specify: 'We're just not going to buy more.' 

Responsible for doling out more than $67 billion in public funds to ensure that South Carolina 'maintains its highly coveted credit ratings,' according to his website, the Republican also reportedly explained his decision to his staff, citing concerns about the company’s supposed 'political agenda.'

'Disney has abandoned its fiduciary responsibilities to its investors and customers by joining far-left activists in boycotting legal, taxpaying, employment-creating corporations to further Disney’s political agenda,' he said, according to Fox Carolina.

'Multi-billion-dollar corporations should not engage in boycotts designed to silence legitimate debate,' he reportedly added.

'Since America’s founding, freedom of speech has been one of its core principals, and Disney should not engage in nefarious practices aimed at silencing those with less power and money.'

The state official also issued an official statement about his move to nix the $170.18 billion mass media company from the Palmetto State’s approved investments, saying he will focus on the remaining equity portfolio in the coming weeks. 

The statement also singled out Iger and his decision to pull out of advertising on X - one of more than 200 CEOs to do so over the past year due to either Musk or ad algorithms on his site, which has seen several anti-Semitic posts run alongside ads.

Several of those companies, including Airbnb, Amazon, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft, paused or completely halted advertising after a stream of tweets and reshares from Musk just over three weeks ago.

During the online tirade, the famously flippant exec appeared to agree with an accepted antisemitic conspiracy theory, and accused 'Jewish communities,' the nonprofit Anti-Defamation League, and minorities of what he called 'anti-white' messaging and views.

He did not offer any examples to support his accusations, and days later, expressed regret to 'have replied to that particular post.'

However, following a barrage of pulled funds, he reappeared ever-defiant in the face of the advertising boycott.

At the highly-attending summit in New York this past Wednesday, he accused the companies - several of which had execs in the audience - of blackmail, before simply stating: 'They can go f*** themselves.' 

That pave the way for the advertisement boycott to continue, meaning X could likely lose more than $75 million in revenue as a result.

At the same time, Disney has been wrapped up in a long-running feud with Florida Gov and GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, over his takeover of a district that's long governed the park - with special privileges.

The dispute between Walt Disney Company and the state governor erupted in March last year, when the Florida governor passed a piece of legislation banning classrooms from teaching younger students about gender identity. 

Disney and Iger ultimately spoke out against the law - relying on the special legal privileges it has held for decades at the so-called Reedy Creek Improvement District.

That led to DeSantis to revoke those long-held self-governing privileges, by imposing his own handpicked appointees to run the district.

A legal fight has ensued ever since, and Disney has relentlessly sought to strip power from the DeSantis-tapped board. A dip in share price has also occurred, as well as a plunge in visits.   

As this was happening former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley - who is also running for president, against DeSantis - got involved, stating that the Palemetto state would proudly accept Disney and its '70,000+ jobs' in a post to X. 

'Hey @Disney, my home state will happily accept your 70,000+ jobs if you want to leave Florida,' she wrote at the time. 

'We’ve got great weather, great people, and it’s always a great day in South Carolina! SC’s not woke, but we’re not sanctimonious about it either.' 

She ultimately added: “South Carolina was a very anti-woke state. It still is. 

'If Disney would like to move their hundreds of thousands of jobs to South Carolina and bring the billions of dollars with them, I’ll let them know I’ll be happy to meet them in South Carolina and introduce them to the governor and legislature that would welcome it.'

She has yet to issue a statement on Loftis's recent decision.