A Disney employee has filed a sexual assault and harassment complaint against Disney regarding a former executive.
The lawsuit against Disney, 20th Century Fox and Searchlight Pictures targets the actions of former Vice President of Distribution Nolan Gonzalez.
The lawsuit accuses the companies and Gonzalez of sexual harassment, sexual assault and/or battery, retaliation, negligence, discrimination on the basis of disability and other injustices, including failing to investigate and prevent sexual harassment.
The lawsuit claimed that the sexual harassment she was subjected to was not limited to her.
“Plaintiff was neither Gonzalez's first nor his last victim. Multiple employees, including those in management, were aware of his behaviors of sexual harassment of women within the company and others in the industry,” the lawsuit states.
“Management was incentivized to hide Gonzalez's harassment because he generated valuable revenue as a distribution manager. Management did not escalate its concerns to human resources and created an environment in which Gonzalez was free to harass women with impunity,” the lawsuit said.
“Women were not encouraged to come forward about his behavior because management apparently accepted Gonzalez’s behavior as part of the entertainment industry and that his dismissal would financially harm the company,” the lawsuit said.
The complaint said the harassment began after she was interviewed for a job at 20th Century Fox in 2014 and continued until 2022, when Gonzalez left the company amid other harassment complaints, the lawsuit said.
“Gonzalez stood behind the plaintiff, slammed his pelvis into her back and caressed her neck,” the lawsuit said during a 2017 conference in Las Vegas. He then took the plaintiff to the elevator and begged her to have sex with him in her room. She rejected his advances and was shaken by the experience.
“Plaintiff was frightened and uncomfortable but did not know who to report Gonzalez to — management was already aware of Gonzalez’s lewd nature, and he constantly reminded her that he was a good friend of theirs,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit said Gonzalez gave her drugs and alcohol and later blackmailed her with photos after she had sex with him.
“In November 2018, Plaintiff complained to Disney Human Resources about sexual harassment and drugging, but to her knowledge her complaints were not investigated or escalated,” the lawsuit states.
The woman who filed the lawsuit, known as Jane Doe in court papers, said Disney retaliated against her last year, using layoffs as an excuse.
“Disney used the layoffs as a pretext to demote Plaintiff and place her on a different team where she did not manage any direct reports,” the lawsuit said. “Previously, Plaintiff was a supervisory-level employee who trained and mentored three subordinates. Now, Plaintiff's primary job duties are much smaller in scope and resemble the duties she performed at Disney ten years ago.”
The complaint was filed under California's Sexual Assault Accountability and Coverup Act, which extended the statute of limitations on sexual assault claims until Dec. 31. One of them was court holidays, The Hollywood Reporter noted.
The filing on Jan. 2 was compliant, the suit said.
Disney did not respond to a request for comment, according to the Los Angeles Times, which said Gonzalez could not be reached for comment.
This article originally appeared in The Western Journal.
