‘Lion King’ actor fired on first day of paternity leave sues Disney

The Lion King actor William James Jr claims he was fired in retaliation for submitting harassment complaints towards the tour's director.
REUTERS

An actor fired from Broadway’s “The Lion King” on his first day of paternity go away has accused Disney in a brand new lawsuit of violating his human rights.

William James Jr claims he was fired, partially, in retaliation for a number of complaints he made concerning the present’s manufacturing director Ameenah Kaplan, in accordance with a criticism filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Courtroom.

James, who was within the ensemble solid and was an understudy for the main function of Mufasa, claims Kaplan bullied him and made “unwelcome advances” on the actor throughout the higher a part of James’s time within the solid.

Since becoming a member of the staff in 2018, one yr after James did, Kaplan flirted with the actor and invited him out to drinks, the go well with alleges.

In February 2019, Kaplan started “unreasonably” berating James and threatened to restrict his performances, in accordance with the go well with.

James claims Ameenah Kaplan bullied him whereas additionally making unwelcome advances.

Robb Sapp/The Conscience Cloud

In December of that yr, Kaplan publicly taunted James after discovering out concerning the actor’s complaints towards him, upsetting an argument for which solely James was reprimanded, he alleges within the lawsuit.

After an investigation, Disney informed James that it discovered the harassment claims to be baseless. James accused the enormous firm of “sweeping (his) complaints below the rug.”

“Disney & Lion King administration allowed me to be SEXUALLY HARASSED, STALKED, THREATENED, DISRESPECTED, TAUNTED, TORMENTED, GAS-LIT, BULLIED & INTENTIONALLY PLACED IN UNSAFE SITUATIONS by a sociopathic, manipulative & dangerously director,” James stated in a 2021 tweet.

As “revenge” for talking out, Disney fired James on the primary day of his paternity go away in March 2020 whereas the manufacturing was on its North American tour, he says within the go well with. The termination was carried out “in essentially the most callous means on the most unreasonable time” in order to ship a message to different workers.

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