Disney Declassified: Tales of Real Life Disney Scandals, Sex, Accidents and Deaths (21 page)

In the next theme park theft case, Disney didn’t fare as well. While most people around the world are familiar with EPCOT, many may not be with Walt Disney World’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. As briefly touched on back in Chapter Three, with some of the fighting at WDW, the sports complex in Florida is an all-in-one stop for playing sports. The complex is home to 230 acres of professionally run fields, courts and clubhouses. The facility can host up to sixty sporting events and thousands of spectators.

In March of 1997, Disney’s $100 million sports complex debuted to the public. For a couple of folks, the concept looked awfully familiar. Nicholas Stracick, a former baseball umpire, and his business partner Edward Russell, an architect, claimed the sports complex was their idea. They called it Sports Island when the duo presented it to Disney back in 1987. When Nicholas and Edward left their presentation pitching their idea, they were confident Disney had an interest in it.

The men were shocked two years later when the company passed on their idea. The two were even more shocked in 1997 when they saw Disney opened their own sports complex. The business partners immediately filed suit in court claiming fraud, misappropriation of trade secrets, and breach of confidentiality. This time, Disney wasn’t the only one that could bring in a shrewd and cunning legal team. The partners brought big legal guns to the courtroom to represent them. Not too long removed from the O.J. Simpson case, Johnnie Cochran was one of the attorneys representing the men in their David vs. Goliath case.

With the case underway, Cochran and his team deposed just about everyone and their uncle at Disney, except for Walt himself. Michael Eisner, Al Weiss, then president of Walt Disney World, Disney architect Wing Chao, no executive was immune. Eisner actually said he didn’t initially like the idea and said it wouldn’t make money. Despite his feelings, Disney moved forward with the idea.

The crux of Disney’s legal defense, depositions and testimony all stated the same thing. The complex is nothing unique, and anyone could have created it. There are ballparks and complexes featuring more than one sports field all over the world. What is unique is the way Disney designs, creates, and executes things, and that is something the two men didn’t create.

In August of 2000, a jury in Florida ruled in favor of Nicholas and Edward. They found Disney guilty on the counts of misappropriated trade secrets, making fraudulent, and negligent misrepresentations and breached confidential relationships. The two men were seeking $1.6 billion in damages; they were instead awarded $240 million in damages. Disney immediately filed an appeal. In September of 2002, they dropped their appeal and announced a confidential settlement with the two men.

Throughout all of this Disney discourse and legal wrangling, right or wrong, ethical or unethical, the one underlying theme within these tales is the company is fiercely diligent and protective of their image, and we haven’t discussed some of the cases where they were the ones initiating the lawsuits; that’s in the next chapter.

 Disney trademarks or copyrights anything and everything. Seriously, this is the company that attempted to trademark Seal Team 6, you remember those guys, actually scratch that, national heroes, who killed Osama Bin Laden. Well, two days after the news broke of their amazing conquest, Disney submitted a trademark for their name.

Now, what they were going to do with it, anyone knows. They listed games, toys and merchandise on their application. Once word got out, Disney dropped their application and relented out of respect to the Navy.

In order to appreciate the next few stories, you need you to use your imagination. It’s about a make-believe place. Where things allegedly happen, let’s call this make-believe place, Disney Discrimination Land or World; depends if you’re in California or Florida. Judgmental things aren’t supposed to happen in our beloved Disney parks. They can happen everywhere else in the world but not in our dreamlands. Ah, whom are we kidding? Deaths, suicide, and sex crimes already infiltrated it. Welcome to the stories of alleged discrimination involving both guests and cast members.

In February of 2013, an African-American family filed a lawsuit against Disneyland claiming they were discriminated against because they weren’t white. Jason and Annelia of San Diego visited the theme park with their son Elijah. The family encountered the White Rabbit character from Alice in Wonderland and young Elijah wanted to get close with the character. The person in the costume allegedly refused to hug or touch Jason and Annelia’s children. The rabbit was also impatient with the other African-American kids; however, when a white family approached the hare, he acted entirely differently.

The rabbit showered the white kids with hugs and kisses, posed for pictures and was very playful. Jason, Annelia, and their kids witnessed this and were upset. They took a trip over to guest services and lodged a formal complaint. The family said Disney offered them VIP tickets; when they declined them, they were offered $500 with the caveat of signing a confidentiality agreement.

The family declined that as well, in favor of a lawsuit, which was settled out of court in July of 2013. A hauntingly similar case also allegedly happened in 2013, but this time Donald Duck was the offender. Nastasia retained the same lawyer as Jason and Annelia in their case against Disneyland. This one is still pending.

Over the years both Disneyland and Walt Disney World have been sued for age discrimination and lack of diversity through their work force. Today, Disney has several programs through their human resources department outlining the company's plan and commitment to culture and diversity. Entire web pages are dedicated to the subject on their careers website. In addition to the company's Corporate Responsibility Report, the company even has a chief diversity officer. Despite this proactive campaign, discrimination cases still happen here and there in the Disney work force.

In April of 1994, Jo-Ann obtained her dream job. The forty-nine-year-old veteran private investigator was hired by Disney as a security hostess for Walt Disney World. After Jo-Ann finished the training and orientation programs, she headed over to pick up her employee uniform. This is where her dream job turned into a nightmare. Jo-Ann couldn’t fit into the regulation uniforms for female security hostesses.

None of Disney’s uniforms would fit her 5’6", 190-pound body. She inquired if she could wear the uniform designed for men or go out and purchase garments that would fit. She would go ahead and sew or tailor them to fit her appropriately. Disney said no to both of her inquiries. Jo-Ann was then informed if she can’t fit into their uniforms, she couldn’t work in security. She was eventually transferred to another department. She went to work at the communications center, a position for which she was ill equipped. She claimed she wasn’t trained properly for the position and her supervisors and co-workers were abusive.

The stress of her communications position and grief over being denied employment at her desired position because of her size made her ill and sent her to the hospital for care. After leaving the hospital, she filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. They granted her permission to sue Disney for discrimination and a lawsuit was filed in July of 1996.  Jo-Ann’s suit was settled before it went to court.

In October of 2005, Sukhbir, was a twenty-four-year-old trumpet player seeking seasonal employment at Walt Disney World. Sukhbir had previous Disney show experience. The music major from the University of South Florida worked for the mouse as a trumpet player dressed as a toy soldier during Christmas time. Sukhbir returned to Disney and applied for another band position. This time, he would be working without a head-to-toe costume.

Sukhbir is a practicing Sikh; his religious beliefs require him to wear a turban and grow a beard. During his employment interview, a Disney human resources employee probed Sukhbir about both his beard and turban; HR was initially skeptical about hiring him due to his appearance. After a phone call to another person in HR, he was informed that he could work in the band, but only if he wore a red turban as the other band members were wearing crimson-colored berets.

All seemed well for Sukhbir, that was until Disney asked him to shave his beard, as it didn’t fit the “Disney image.” He refused to shave his beard and therefore didn’t get the job. He tried for a similar position in 2006 and was met with the same requirements.

After two rounds of rejection, Sukhbir filed a lawsuit against Disney in 2008 for $1 million. The suit claimed he was denied his religious rights and a job at the park. He was told repeatedly he was a great musician, but he just didn’t fit the look. After the suit was filed, Disney denied the claims. They insisted that Disney does not discriminate, and that the company makes accommodations that allow Sikhs and others with different needs to work at the giant resort. “We value and respect diversity in our cast members and treat each request [for an accommodation] individually. The type of accommodation varies with the type of request, job and location.”  This case was settled out of court.

A similar case happened across the country at Disneyland in August of 2012 when Imane, a Muslim woman, was working as a hostess at a restaurant in Disneyland’s Grand Californian hotel. Imane’s story started to surface in the news in the summer of 2010. 

The trouble happened for her a year after she started working for Disney. She wanted to wear a hijab to work; a veil that covers the head. When she made her request to Disney to wear it as part of her uniform, they denied it. She even offered to wear something with matching colors and a Disney logo in an effort to have it match the rest of her uniform. Her suggestions were declined and she was informed if she wore the hijab to work, she would be sent to work in the back of the restaurant so guests couldn’t see her.

The other option for her was to wear a hat and scarf combination that Disney would create for her. Imane said the hat and bonnet type combination Disney suggested was an insult to her religion, whereas Disney said the accommodation was a compromise to help appease all parties in the situation. The combination would cover her head, neck and chest and would be in line with Disney’s costume guidelines for workers. Imane declined and went to work several times wearing her hijab. The restaurant's management asked her to work in the back of the restaurant out of sight of the public. She refused that other position, and was sent home without pay.

Her situation became worse when she claims co-workers started calling her names like “terrorist” and “camel.” She claims she informed management about this as well, and they did nothing to stop the situation. Finally, in August of 2012, Iman filed a federal lawsuit against Disney with help from the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. The case is still pending and was filed on the grounds of religious discrimination and harassment.

      Everyone enjoys seeing their favorite Disney character roaming around the Disney parks, greeting one and all. They press the flesh like the mayors of Disney town. According to a few Disney guests over the years, some of the characters got a little carried away and pressed too much flesh. They claimed their chance to embrace a Disney character evolved into a downright assault, either groping or physical abuse. These sensational and often unfounded claims happened at both Disneyland and WDW. 

A case in 1976 at Disneyland had claims of assault and battery, false imprisonment and humiliation. A woman claimed a character dressed as a pig ran up to her, grabbed her breasts, and started squealing “mommy.” The woman later dropped the case when she was shown a photo of the pig she accused; the costume didn’t have working arms.

Five years later, also at Disneyland, a nine-year-old girl claimed she was beat up by Winnie the Pooh. The claims were Pooh slapped her in the face so hard she suffered from constant headaches, bruising, and possible brain damage. Disney took this one right to court. They presented exhibit A; the costume and the man wearing the costume at the time. The man put the costume on and did the dance he was doing when the nine-year-old girl pulled his tail. Donning the costume for all to see, the jury noticed his arms were too low to the ground and he couldn’t connect with the girl's face with his hands; case dismissed.

A similar case went to court back in 2004 after an incident at Walt Disney World. A mother and daughter claimed that while posing for a picture with the character, Tigger, the character touched each of their breasts. The character was arrested and charged with one count of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child between twelve and fifteen and one count of simple battery. The family didn’t immediately sue Disney in civil court. Instead, they proceeded with the criminal charges against the person in the costume to help build a better civil suit. The accused employee was even offered a plea, which he denied. The case went to trial and Tigger was acquitted, after he put on his character costume and showed the court the inflexibility and lack of sight lines while portraying Tigger.

It wasn’t only Mickey’s pals who were accused of some improper behavior. Mickey himself battled a charge back in 1983. Paula of New Jersey claimed during a visit to the Magic Kingdom, a drunken Mickey assaulted and attacked her four-year-old son. Paula claims after her son grabbed Mickey’s tail outside of Cinderella’s castle, the mouse snapped and grabbed her son and threw him against an iron railing. The boy was not only physically injured but needed psychological therapy. She sued Disney and the person playing Mickey for $3 million each. She claimed the actor in the costume was drunk. Six years later, in July of 1989, her case was dismissed and Mickey was exonerated.

Each day in this country $35 million of merchandise is shoplifted out of retail stores, a practice 1 in 11 people in America are guilty of. The Disney parks are obviously no different. During the early to mid 1990s Disney had a 95% success rate at prosecuting guests with “sticky fingers.” From 1994-1996, Walt Disney World alone had over 1,200 guest arrests for the petty crime.