Thursday, February 22, 2018

Misconduct? Oh My...

This longtime Disney kingpin is now, apparently, getting called out:

Tom Schumacher, the Disney theatrical executive who has spearheaded the Broadway musical The Lion King and the about-to-open Frozen production, allegedly has a history of crossing “boundaries of appropriate workplace behavior,” including sexual harassment, according to The Wall Street Journal. The report, citing two witnesses to each allegation, claims Schumacher, previously a top animation executive on hits like Pocahontas and film The Lion King, allegedly routinely commented on the sexual attractiveness of colleagues in the workplace, talked about pornography, and walked around the office in a bathrobe with supposedly nothing underneath, between the 1990s and early 2000s. ...

Lemme tell you, the tales have been spinning about Mr. Schumacher for years and years.

During the 1990s and early oughts, Disney staffers told me (in other words, "alleged") that Mr. Schumacher harassed employees and made inappropriate remarks to different artists and administrators. I had no reason to doubt the reports then (they were too numerous over too lengthy a time). And I have no reason to doubt them now.

Do I have any hard proof or first-hand experience? Nope. I've laid eyes on Tom Schumacher once, maybe twice. But ooh boy, has there been hearsay. Lots and lots of hearsay.

I'm sure the the Walt Disney Co. will get to the bottom of these allegations*.

* Yeah, hm hm.

2 comments:

  1. What do you mean by harassed? Did he touch them at all or just made comments?

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  2. The reports were he did a variety of things. Some complaints were allegedly brought to H.R., but nothing came of any of them. People were (again, allegedly) given settlements and departed the studio. The reports came from Disney staffers and some supervisors.

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