A former Disney employee is suing the company for allegedly concealing a pattern of sexual misconduct from a former executive.
The lawsuit comes from someone suing as an anonymous Jane Doe who claims that she was assaulted by VP of Distribution Nolan Gonzales and that Disney reportedly refused to escalate any concerns about the executive despite multiple complaints. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday (via THR).
“Management was incentivized to hide Gonzales’s harassment because he generated valuable revenue,” the suit claims.
According to the complaint, Gonzales allegedly assaulted the anonymous employee several times throughout 2017 with the use of the drug ecstasy and another date rape drug. The lawsuit alleges that Gonzales also raped the employee while she was unconscious and used his position of power and threat of blackmail to force the employee to continue having contact with him. When she tried to cease any contact with him in 2018, Gonzales allegedly threatened to ruin her career by releasing videos of the two of them.
The lawsuit claims Gonzales used substances and blackmail to control the employee
The complaint also alleges that other victims are out there and that Gonzales’ history of misconduct was known throughout the company but that Disney refused to do anything about it while Gonzales worked there. The executive stepped down in 2022 after three other women reported him for sexual harassment, according to the lawsuit.
“Women were discouraged to come forward about his behaviors because management seemingly accepted Gonzales’ conduct as being part of the entertainment industry and his firing would hurt the company financially,” states the complaint.
“Disney used the rolling layoffs as an excuse to demote Plaintiff and to place her on a different team where she did not manage any direct reports,” the suit continues. “Previously, Plaintiff was a supervisory level employee who trained and directed three subordinates. Now, Plaintiff’s essential job duties are much smaller in scope and are similar to duties she performed at Disney ten years ago.”
