Disney Managers Allegedly Hid Executive’s Pattern of Sex Abuse

Managers at Walt Disney Co. allegedly helped cover an executive’s pattern of sexual abuse and ultimately demoted a worker because she took medical leave linked to his abuse, according to a lawsuit filed in California state court.

The complaint, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that former Disney Vice President Nolan Gonzales started sexually harassing a Disney employee shortly after she was hired in 2014, as part of a pattern of sexual harassment that was known to many employees, including managers that didn’t notify human resources.

Women at the company were allegedly discouraged from reporting Gonzales’ behavior because management apparently saw his conduct as “being part of the entertainment industry and his firing would hurt the company financially,” the complaint said.

Neither Disney nor Gonzales immediately responded to request for comment Wednesday.

The lawsuit was filed under a 2022 California law that extended the statute of limitations for adult survivors of sexual assault. This law also opened the door for a lawsuit against actor Vin Diesel in December and was used to argue an appeal that ultimately revived a sex assault case brought against singer Marilyn Manson by his former assistant.

The plaintiff alleged that she was warned before attending an annual conference to “watch out for Gonzales,” the complaint said. “I can feel it’s going to be you this year,” a coordinator told her, according to the complaint

Gonzales allegedly sexually abused the plaintiff for months after the 2017 conference and forced her to take ecstasy and a date rape drug. When she tried to cut him off, Gonzales told other employees that they had sex. He said he would release sexual photos and videos of her if she shared what he had done, the complaint said.

According to the complaint, the plaintiff overheard a Disney chairperson say in 2022 that Gonzales was known by other women at the company “as a pervert.” Still, management concealed this from human resources, according to the complaint. Gonzales left his position after at least three other women reported his sexual harassment that year, the lawsuit alleges.

After Gonzales left the company, the plaintiff took a medical leave from work for a couple of months due to anxiety and depression connected with the harassment and Disney’s investigation, according to the complaint. Shortly after she returned, Disney allegedly demoted her from her supervisor position, with one manager saying her medical leave could be connected to the demotion.

Searchlight Pictures, Inc. and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. are also named as defendants in the suit.

The law office of Lien M. Nguyen is representing the plaintiff.

The case is Doe v. The Walt Disney Co., Cal. Super. Ct., No. 24STCV00036, complaint 1/2/24.