Sexual Harassment Occurring at Disney?
Recently in the news, there have been a lot of sexual harassment allegations against high-power media individuals. This includes employees of media giant Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS), which is known as the most “magical” company in the world.
Names include Harvey Weinstein, who was running the Miramax Film Corp. movie division owned by Disney; John Lasseter, a high-ranking executive at Pixar Animation Studios, which is a Disney division; and Mark Halperin, who was working for ABC News (also owned by Disney), both behind and in front of the camera. (Source: “Nolte – Disney’s Monsters Inc.: Harvey Weinstein, John Lasseter, and Mark Halperin,” Breitbart, November 22, 2017.)
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Brief Bios of the Men Involved
Harvey Weinstein Bio
Weinstein and his brother were very passionate about films and the entertainment industry. They both started Miramax in the 1970s. About two decades later, the company was acquired by Disney, and Harvey Weinstein stayed with the company after the takeover. He was employed by Disney for about two decades. During his time at Miramax, the division was growing tremendously, contributing millions of dollars to Disney’s bottom line.
Weinstein held a powerful position while producing movies and he had a lot of influence in Hollywood when handing out roles to actors and actresses. Within the media and entertainment industry, it was known that Weinstein was harassing females when he was determining roles.
A lot of victims stayed in silence, but a few females launched sexual harassment suits against Weinstein, which got out to the media. Some of the cases became a matter of public record during Weinstein’s time with Disney. Recently, even more women have spoken about their personal experiences with Weinstein. (Source: “A timeline of allegations against Harvey Weinstein, starting in 1984,” Toronto Star, October 13, 2017.)
It appears that it was known that Weinstein was a sexual harasser while he was making movies, and it could be said that Weinstein’s actions were overlooked by Disney because he was generating millions of dollars for the company.
John Lasseter Bio
John Lasseter’s current role is the chief creative officer of Pixar. Some of his work includes movies such as Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, and the Cars franchise.
Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
It has been reported that Lasseter’s inappropriate behavior was known by his colleagues. Young woman who were employed at Pixar were even warned ahead of time about Lasseter’s behavior. He had also been given numerous warnings that his behavior was unacceptable. Now everything seems to have caught up with him, and people have had enough. Lassester has decided to take a six-month leave of absence. (Source: “Pixar’s John Lasseter Was the Subject of a ‘Whisper Network’ for More Than Two Decades,” Variety, November 21, 2017.)
This move, of course, could be considered as him shying away from the spotlight in the hopes that the talk about him dies down, and that in six months, it will be business as usual.
Mark Halperin Bio
Mark Halperin started working as a desk assistant for ABC News in the late 1980s. He climbed the corporate ladder and became a producer of ABC and, later, an editorial producer. About a decade later, Halperin became the network’s political director for ABC News.
Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Showtime
Halperin is said to have harassed about 10 different woman during his time at ABC. He had a reputation for touching his female co-workers inappropriately and for involving them in some sort of sexual activity. He worked for the company for nearly two decades. (Source: Breitbart, op cit.)
Is This Surprising that Sexual Harassment Events Occurred at Disney?
Well, the answer is yes and no.
Yes, because employees within the company were aware of these matters by these three men. However, no one was willing to come forward to publicly speak their truth. Most of the victims spent their time in silence, along with most others who knew about the situations. A few cases did come out into the spotlight, but they usually disappeared quickly.
A lot of information was not known to the public, and was kept inside the company until allegations were made against the men.
Why Now?
The recent wave of revelations began with allegations against Harvey Weinstein in October. As time moved forward, more alleged victims spoke about their personal experiences with Weinstein. As more individuals spoke about their own experiences, more people who were previously silenced felt they now had a voice.
About a week after the allegations were made against Weinstein, a hashtag campaign was started and promoted by actress Alyssa Milano. The campaign was to encourage woman who were harassed or assaulted to use the #MeToo hashtag on social media and no longer feel like a victim. (Source: “#MeToo is here to stay. We must challenge all men about sexual harassment,” The Guardian, October 28, 2017.)
This move by Milano started to give a platform to woman who had felt trapped for what occurred to them. As more posts were made on social media sites with the #MeToo hashtag, more names of alleged sexual harassers and abusers were revealed to the public. This is how Lasseter’s and Halperin’s names came into the limelight.
What Is in Common With Weinstein, Lasseter, and Halperin?
Yes, all these of men worked at Disney and allegedly conducted horrible sexual behavior in the workplace. When looking at the bigger picture, all three of these men held, or are holding onto, powerful positions within the company. For instance, in the case of Weinstein, he was responsible for selecting the actresses who would appear in his movies. Therefore, if he caused any sexual harm to an actress, she would likely not speak up because she knew it would affect her career negatively.
Halperin is in the same boat, because he could have easily affected someone’s career if they had spoken up about him. In the case of Lasseter, he still works for the company and has a lot of control at Pixar.
What Is the Impact on Disney?
Of course, this is not great for the company and the alleged victims. In regards to the victims, it will impact them for their entire lives, and affect their families.
Disney is in the business of ensuring that it works for the best interest of its shareholders. For the lowest impact on investors, the company may decide to release a statement about all these issues with current or former employees. Another possible move is to let Lasseter go, since he is the only one of the three men discussed above who is currently employed by Disney.
One possible reaction by the public to these stories is a boycott of all Disney theme parks, movies, and merchandise. This could cause a dent in the financial numbers. If this happens, we could see the company take more proactive measures to prevent future scandals.
