In a brand new courtroom submitting, former baby actress Raquel Lee claims she was repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted by a Disney worker throughout manufacturing of The pouf levela Disney Channel unique movie from 2001. The swimsuit, which doesn’t identify the creator, accuses the studio of negligence.
Lee, who was 14 on the time, claims a “middle-aged worker concerned within the filming of the movie” groomed her after which assaulted her, first repeatedly in her room at a resort the place the solid and crew had been staying throughout filming in Salt Lake Metropolis, then afterward a flight again to Los Angeles. Moreover, the alleged attacker “usually whispered sexually express and harassing feedback” in her ear throughout filming and “used hugs to get nearer to her.”
The grievance claims that this misconduct was dedicated “in full view of the solid and crew and could possibly be heard by sound technicians working the actors’ microphones” – and but “nobody at Disney intervened.” The submitting additionally claims the person “usually made sexually express jokes and feedback on set” towards minors, together with “sexually express feedback about” Lee’s physique. (Plus, she was reportedly allowed to be separated from her guardian on set “for the overwhelming majority of every day.”)
Lee notes that his job efficiency quickly declined noticeably and that a number of Disney executives attacked his “change in habits and response to trauma”, accusing him of being “uncontrolled”, which brought on the movie to go haywire and require[ing] Jesus,” having “a demon inside her” and interesting in sexual acts with a crew member on the age of 14.” The lawsuit provides: “Disney threatened to cancel, and really canceled” her position in a then-upcoming manufacturing with the studio.
Lee is represented by Doug Wigdor, a distinguished plaintiffs’ legal professional in employment and sexual misconduct issues. He beforehand represented Cassie Ventura towards Sean “Diddy” Combs; Nafissatou Diallo, the resort housekeeper who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn, then head of the IMF, of sexual assault; and a number of other ladies who’ve alleged misconduct by Harvey Weinstein.
Disney declined to touch upon the dispute. In a press release, Wigdor and her colleague Jane Kim mentioned: “Over the previous decade, numerous baby actors have come ahead to courageously share their experiences of abuse by adults in leisure. As former authorities prosecutors, our message to the leisure business is easy: this conduct is inexcusable and people concerned – straight or not directly – should be held accountable.”
The grievance claims Lee’s expertise was a part of an extended sample throughout the studio: “This isn’t the primary time Disney has allowed a sexual predator to focus on and abuse susceptible victims.” Wigdor’s submitting cites a litany of beforehand reported accusations of predatory conduct over a long time linked to the corporate.
Shortly after The pouf levelLee later returned as a voice-over artist on the Disney Channel animated sitcom. The proud householdand lately participated once more in its Disney+ revival, The proud household: increasingly proud. She additionally labored with the corporate when she appeared on the FX present. Snowfall in 2019.
Moreover, Lee participated within the hit documentary collection 2024. Quiet on set: The darkish aspect of youngsters’s tvduring which she displays on her therapy as a black performer on Nickelodeon Amanda’s Present. She did not take it The pouf level allegations within the docuseries, which have turn out to be a cultural phenomenon as a result of their concentrate on allegations of misconduct towards baby actors. Nonetheless, after it aired, she famous that Drake Bell’s dialogue of sexual abuse he suffered on set was “traumatic” for her.