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News Lasseter taking leave of absence
- Thread starter Lou Filerman
- Start date
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
By Vanity Fair, apparently. The lead "allegation" in the article that @the.dreamfinder shared is that Lasseter French kissed a Disney employee at a party eight years ago. And that incident is being framed up as sexual misconduct / sexual assault / predatory behavior.
SoccerMickey
Active Member
I think this whole situation botched Disney from looking good from the beginning. Giving Lasseter all the power to take a “six-month sabbatical” whether he was forced to take it or decided on his own (I know what his statement read back in November but who knows how that decision really came to be) placed all his accusers and alleged victims in a weird limbo where they in a sense have to wait for any type of closure. People criticize the accusers for for staying anonymous but they still work for the company and so does the harasser. In most (I think all) when you have an internal complaint most of the details remain confidential. Well the outcome of this situation became public but just because we don’t have a name or a face to attach to this doesn’t mean it isn’t true. And you don’t take this type of action because you hug people. If you read the initial story from The Hollywood Reporter, it almost looks like it was released after Disney gave it back to them after they went through it with a red pen. It really focuses on hugging with the other, more offensive, allegations buried in the text.
SoccerMickey
Active Member
I never got the feeling that the woman he was kissing at the party was accusing him of anything. (Maybe she was/did, I don’t know) I just took that story was taken from someone who talked to them and they used it to illustrate his lothario ways was a wide known issue for a long time.
CJR
Well-Known Member
From the looks of things, they're looking to keep him around as a resource, but not a manager. This smells like a way to keep him from running off to a competitor or starting up his own studio. My guess is that if he returns, he probably won't be doing much other than saying "Uh-huh" a lot.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Then it's a classic case of using half-truths to spin/promote a POV. Inappropriate conduct between employees (consensual even, even if judgment was impaired) is not the same as sexual assault or 'forcing' yourself on people. In that case it sounds like it was drunk inappropriate (for the workplace) stuff.. where the other situations are more about unwanted advances or inappropriate contact. Even tho it's the same guy, people shouldn't blur/cross those stories to make them into a fact that isn't there.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Phil12
Well-Known Member
Several women reported that they had created a defense tactic and posture when in John's vicinity. They called the defensive tactic, "The Lasseter" and it consisted of keeping their hands on their thighs in a preemptive maneuver to keep John's hands from traveling up their legs to their private regions. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/n...uct-detailed-by-disney-pixar-insiders-1059594
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CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
See, this is the kind of BS I'm talking about. No, that's NOT what they said. The original Hollywood Reporter article (linked below) says "Sources say some women at Pixar knew to turn their heads quickly when encountering him to avoid his kisses. Some used a move they called 'the Lasseter' to prevent their boss from putting his hands on their legs."
Putting your hands on someone's legs is not the same as touching their "private regions" as you put it. One is inappropriate and creepy. The other is perverted and evil. Neither one is okay, but there are degrees of severity here.
Also, pay attention to the way the THR sentence is structured. "Sources say some women at Pixar knew..." That's called hearsay. "I heard from a guy whose cousin got a text from a lady who saw a tweet from someone who went to college with an accountant whose uncle works at Pixar and he totally knows a lady who said that another lady told her about a time John Lasseter touched her sister inappropriately."
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/n...uct-detailed-by-disney-pixar-insiders-1059594
Phil12
Well-Known Member
I'll help you:
"A longtime insider says he saw a woman seated next to Lasseter in a meeting that occurred more than 15 years ago. "She was bent over and [had her arm] across her thigh," he says. "The best I can describe it is as a defensive posture ... John had his hand on her knee, though, moving around." After that encounter, this person asked the woman about what he had seen. "She said it was unfortunate for her to wear a skirt that day and if she didn't have her hand on her own right leg, his hand would have traveled."
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
That's even worse than hearsay. That's speculation on top of hearsay on top of FIFTEEN YEARS AGO. His hand "would have" traveled? Come on.
Seriously, imagine getting canned from your job not for something you actually did, but for something someone says someone else says you would have done under different circumstances than what actually transpired. Oh and it was fifteen years ago.
Someone told me that someone told them that @Phil12 would have been really into furry stuff if he had gone to college in Illinois instead of Ohio.
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AEfx
Well-Known Member
Exactly.
There has been nothing alleged, let alone proven, that is even illegal. One of the cornerstones of sexual harassment on this level (as opposed to criminal sexual assault) is that someone (the actual victim) needs to object and said person needs to be counseled. From all sources, it seems like no one ever said so much as "knock it off" to him. If they did fire him, any good lawyer would have a field day with a wrongful termination suit.
Not to mention, but as you pointed out in this case - we don't even know who the guy speculating is or why he should be considered expert. This is highlighting the real hole we are digging ourselves into. Not just with "me too" but also in terms of politics/government/etc. and "journalism" in general where apparently no one has to go on the record for anything anymore in order for it to be reported as fact.
This is so going to come and bite us collectively in the behind later when the shoe is on the other foot. Just because we find someone/something so outrageous or personally offensive that we begin to routinely make exceptions (and have no expectations) for due dilligence, responsibility and accountability in reporting and the media, we can't claim it is unfair when those same standards are applied in the other direction later.
AEfx
Well-Known Member
No need to be so immature. This newest round is actually less contentious than when the news initially was reported.
mikejs78
Well-Known Member
I think after the Weinstein/Spacey Revelations, people became quick to jump on any type of allegations as fact. American society was founded on the principle of 'innocent until proven guilty'. Did Lasseter do creepy things? Probably. Does he deserve to lose his job? Maybe, maybe not. The issue I have with all of this is that the allegations in the Hollywood Reporter and others are all hearsay, innuendo, and stuff that belongs in a gossip column, not a serious journalistic publication.
I don't know if John did anything that deserves a firing. He may well have, and if he did I would be the first to say he should. But the evidence hasn't been presented thus far, and I think should be if we are talking about a person losing his livelyhood and really his ability to work again. If he's guilty he should go, but let's make sure he's really guilty before he's forced out.
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Rodan75
Well-Known Member
This is a topic that will be debated over the next few years as “flawed” creative men try to make career comebacks and try to distinguish pervy and inappropriate from assault and harassment. I don’t know what bucket Lasseter falls into, we don’t have enough info.
If he does come back, I choose to believe Disney has done their research and he is pervy and inappropriate. But I also expect that he will have a handler with him at all times (like walk around characters) and only serve as a creative consultant moving forward. But as a shareholder I would want all settlements repaid to the company from Lasseter and that he apologizes publicly and privately to the staff for putting them through this.
On the other hand, I have no concerns of the viability of Pixar and WDA without Lasseter. And if he faded from memory, I’m good with that.
If he does come back, I choose to believe Disney has done their research and he is pervy and inappropriate. But I also expect that he will have a handler with him at all times (like walk around characters) and only serve as a creative consultant moving forward. But as a shareholder I would want all settlements repaid to the company from Lasseter and that he apologizes publicly and privately to the staff for putting them through this.
On the other hand, I have no concerns of the viability of Pixar and WDA without Lasseter. And if he faded from memory, I’m good with that.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
After duds like The Good Dinosaur and Cars 3, it's clear his involvement with the company does not make or break projects like it used to. Disney may ultimately feel that it would be simpler to have him "retire", than risk any further scrutiny or bad press by bringing him back.
CJR
Well-Known Member
This. There is no way Disney as a company hasn't dove deeply into these matters.
The issue with THR is that nothing reported came from a victim, but from a third party who either claims to have observed or heard something. What's presented to the public is nothing more than speculation. It's Disney's job to look into it and see if any of it might be true, and if so, to the extent. At the moment, no victims have come forward publicly, despite having plenty of reason to do so.
IF John returns, it's because nothing serious enough to fire him was discovered. It really is as simple as that. It'll make THR look kind of bad too, which I'm sure Iger would like.
Phil12
Well-Known Member
The Disney public relations department has worked miracles over the years. After all they made Walt Disney himself look like a saint. TWDC knows how much it's going to cost to swing into full coverup mode and pay off the victims and have them contractually obligated to nondisclosure agreements. The question is, is Lassetter's reputation that valuable to the company? The answer is no.
The Disney PR department still has a full time job protecting Walt's reputation and attempting at every turn to distance Walt from his dis functional family descendants.
The Disney PR department still has a full time job protecting Walt's reputation and attempting at every turn to distance Walt from his dis functional family descendants.
mikejs78
Well-Known Member
Oh just go away already...