John Lasseter Accused of Sexual Assault

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disneyprincess11
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John Lasseter Accused of Sexual Assault

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Re: Lasseter takeover--good or bad?

Post by rodrigo_ca »

Came here to post that.
My only comment right now is: good riddance, don't bother to come back. Too bad his shit didn't hit the fan before he left.
What a load of bullcrap his memo is.
I must add that I giggled when I read the news, before realising why he is leaving.
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Re: Lasseter takeover--good or bad?

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I too 100% called it. The most powerful person in animation. Trust no one in Hollywood.

This also explains Brenda Chapman & possibly Gigantic's cancellation crystal clear now.
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Re: Lasseter takeover--good or bad?

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Christmas came early this year! :D I can't believe he's finally been exposed! :party: Not even the wage-fixing scandal managed to do that. While I doubt he'll be permanently ousted from the studios, at least the media will stop pretending now he's some sort of holy figure, constantly lavishing him with praise and Lasseter apologists can finally shut the f@ck up!
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Re: Lasseter takeover--good or bad?

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Eww, I shouldn't even be surprised at this point. I hope he is ousted as quickly as possible now, the sick man.
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Re: Lasseter Sexually Assaulted Women

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Sotiris wrote:Christmas came early this year! :D I can't believe he's finally been exposed! :party: Not even the wage-fixing scandal managed to do that. While I doubt he'll be permanently ousted from the studios, at least the media will stop pretending now he's some sort of holy figure, constantly lavishing him with praise and Lasseter apologists can finally shut the f@ck up!
Its probably the wrong time to put positive spin on things, (I do apology if this not time or a place to do so) but maybe Disney will now return to hand draw animation.

But it must be said that allegations are one thing actual conviction is another. I would tend to think at some point there might be one allegation to many and the whole movement could fall apart or would need to backtrack.
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Re: Lasseter Sexually Assaulted Women

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The 6-month break sounds like an attempted plan by him to wait until it blows over and then return. :roll: I can believe it about him because the past 5 years or so he's sounded like an egomaniac. Power really went to his head.

And I hope he does get ousted somehow. Especially after he was involved in making sure other companies paid low wages to their employees to keep the bar low for Disney/Pixar employees, too. That was disgusting and so is this.
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Re: Lasseter Sexually Assaulted Women

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I always trust my gut, and I've never liked the man. There was always something about his public persona that seemed totally disingenuous to me. Now I guess I was right to trust my instincts... It's sad that people like Lasseter get far in the industry and then use their power to be pigs. I do wonder what this will mean for the future of the companies. He was practically being elevated to the level of a modern Walt-type figure, the sole savior of American animation...
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Re: Lasseter Sexually Assaulted Women

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His hugs always felt creepy and inappropriate to me but now I see them in an entirely new light.

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Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424 ... 3057426528

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Re: Lasseter Sexually Assaulted Women

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Heil Donald Duck wrote:
Sotiris wrote:Christmas came early this year! :D I can't believe he's finally been exposed! :party: Not even the wage-fixing scandal managed to do that. While I doubt he'll be permanently ousted from the studios, at least the media will stop pretending now he's some sort of holy figure, constantly lavishing him with praise and Lasseter apologists can finally shut the f@ck up!
Its probably the wrong time to put positive spin on things, (I do apology if this not time or a place to do so) but maybe Disney will now return to hand draw animation.

But it must be said that allegations are one thing actual conviction is another. I would tend to think at some point there might be one allegation to many and the whole movement could fall apart or would need to backtrack.
No one willingly takes a 6 month break out of fake allegations. If he's willing to talk about it, I can't even imagine what is really hiding underneath.
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Re: Lasseter Sexually Assaulted Women

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rodrigo_ca wrote:If he's willing to talk about it, I can't even imagine what is really hiding underneath.
Well...
Sources additionally tell Cartoon Brew that there has allegedly been at least one financial settlement from the Walt Disney Company over Lasseter’s actions. This implies that the behavior went on with the knowledge of Disney and Pixar Animation Studios president Ed Catmull and Disney CEO Bob Iger.
Source: http://www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-right ... 54881.html
According to a Disney artist at last night's TAG Local 839 union meeting, Disney has paid off the people who filed complaints about Lasseter and has made them sign nondisclosure agreements.
Source: http://www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-right ... 3638235577
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Re: Lasseter Sexually Assaulted Women

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Josh Gad is everything.
@josh gad: Men have had a good couple of thousands of years to try it their way. I think it’s time for women to take over. Actually past time.
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Re: Lasseter Sexually Assaulted Women

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Well, why am I not surprised? Due to the surrounding rumors, this was the only thing that was missing, hahahaha. But I'm not surprised at all.
and Lasseter apologists can finally shut the f@ck up!
But they'll most likely defend him, no matter what.
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Re: Lasseter Sexually Assaulted Women

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A new report indicates things were much worse than we imagined. My heart really goes out to the women who endured his advances and very courageously decided to speak out. You can hear the sheer fear in their voices. :(
Few in animation are willing to cross him. “He is a beloved figure, so I’m scared to speak out,” said one of numerous former employees who spoke to Variety over the last several weeks, all of whom refused to be identified by name for fear of career repercussions. Many described the culture at Pixar as toxic for women. “It’s sexist and misogynistic,” said a former employee.

Many former female Pixar employees said there was a classic whisper network at the animation company, where young women were advised to keep their distance from the co-founder. Another former employee told Variety that she was cautioned about Lasseter soon after she started work there, in the late 1990s. “Just be warned, he likes to hug the pretty girls,” she said she was told. “He might try to kiss you on the mouth.”

The employee said she was alarmed by how routine the whole thing seemed. “There was kind of a big cult around John,” she says.

Some told Variety that he would make inappropriate comments about women, or touch them on their legs or backs. Some described receiving hugs that went on a few seconds too long. “There is a currency there — the currency is touch, and being touched by this person who is always in charge,” said another former Pixar employee. “It’s personal and intimate and probably not appropriate.”

Another former employee said that after Pixar grew out of its Point Richmond office and moved to Emeryville in 2000, Lasseter’s behavior became more brazen. She said he would walk up to women in the office and kiss them on the lips. “I found it shocking,” she said. “That’s not a normal way of greeting a colleague.”

Another ex-employee said she was told that Lasseter had been spoken to about his behavior, and was assured that it had improved. Nevertheless, Lasseter’s comportment around women has continued to be an issue in recent years. “The consensus was that he was a hugger,” she said. “Male and female employees warned me that he could be touchy-feely. He could make comments that were uncomfortable or awkward or embarrassing for women. And it was all, ‘Oh ha ha, that’s just our John.'”

She said her manager kept her out of meetings where Lasseter would be present, telling her it would be best for her not to attend the intimate weekly reviews because “John has a hard time controlling himself around young pretty girls.” She said that being excluded from meetings with Lasseter meant that she was not able to pitch or articulate her ideas or discuss her work with the director. She also felt left out of important conversations that went on in the review room. The experience made her feel undervalued and stifled in her career at the company, and she said it contributed to her decision to leave. She said managers chose to thwart her career rather than “have difficult conversations with the most important, high-ranking and powerful man in the company.”

The former employee who witnessed co-workers being kissed on the mouth said she hoped Lasseter would seek treatment. “I don’t see taking a six-month vacation, which I’m sure he’ll be paid for, is really gonna be a solution,” she said. “I would hope he would individually apologize to people and get some help.”
Source: http://variety.com/2017/film/news/john- ... 202620960/
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Re: Lasseter Sexually Assaulted Women

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With a financial settlement in the past, that sounds just like with Weinstein, where the company didn't fire him as long as he paid for it (which is lunacy!).

I can't help wondering who would rise up and take over Disney Animation if Lasseter was pushed out. And funnily enough another thought that crossed my mind was whether or not Alan Menken might find his way back into their films at some point if Lasseter was out of the way. :lol: The places my mind will go to. I would like M&C to make one last film without Lasseter in charge, too, if Moana wasn't the last for them.
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Re: Lasseter Sexually Assaulted Women

Post by blackcauldron85 »

So many thoughts.

I am so proud of all of the people who have been speaking out about this issue for the past few weeks. I know that some people question why it's taken them so long-- well, they were afraid that they wouldn't be believed, that they'd lose their jobs, get a bad reputation. So, I'm glad that they feel that they can state their truth, and I feel sick about what they've gone through.

Pixar is known for being a male-run business...so I can't say that I'm surprised. Disgusted, but not fully surprised.

Did John's wife not know about this!? Was the lavish lifestyle worth it?!? I can't imagine that the significant others of these awful abusers don't know what's been going on...if they don't, then I feel for them, too.

So much sadness is going on, and I hope so much that this...time in history, this phenomenon, will weed out these predators, and not just in Hollywood, but in any industry, and make the future a safer place to work.

And these financial settlements-- sure, Lasseter has been beneficial to Disney...is the mindset of these companies that pay these buyouts, "Well, this executive is worth more than any little "peon," so we'll give them hush-hush money, kick them out, and keep our executive who brings us so much money!"?? I mean, I guess that's the whole point of hush-hush money, huh? I'm disgusted with Bob Iger right now-- I'd assume that he'd have known about these settlements, and I'm disgusted with the other higher-ups who just turned a blind eye to this.
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Re: Lasseter Sexually Assaulted Women

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well no wonder they cancelled Gigantic! a giant young female figure lording over a tiny helpless man? Nope, cant have that now can we! :P

in all seriousness, Im so happy to see whats going on in Hollywood right now, that women are standing up for themselves, and letting everyone know, that NO, this behavior isn't cute, its not welcomed, its not appreciated! at the same time Im saddened that its so pervasive in the culture, but also saddened because Im not surprised. All I have to do is walk down a busy street in my neighborhood in some nice clothes(not sexy mind you, just pants and a shirt) and I know how these women must feel every day at work! ITS ABOUT TIME! :up:
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Re: Lasseter Sexually Assaulted Women

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More reports are coming in. This is so gross and unsettling. :huh:
In March 2010, days after another triumphant Oscar ceremony for Disney’s Pixar Animation Studios, the company’s chief creative officer, John Lasseter, was the subject of a tense phone call among Disney and Pixar executives, one person on the line recently told Vanity Fair. During the conversation, which included Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios president Ed Catmull, Walt Disney Animation Studios production chief Andrew Millstein, Disney corporate communications chief Zenia Mucha, and others, the group discussed Lasseter’s behavior at an Oscar party, where the executive allegedly French kissed and fondled a female Disney employee. [...]

One former male employee described traveling to a film festival with the executive and being asked to bring him to a strip club. “He’d get dances and point at me to pay for it,” the employee said. “I was supposed to entertain him. It was so uncomfortable. He liked to have a good time. He liked his wine.”

Female employees describe discomfort with Lasseter’s physical affection, which included close hugs, and kisses on the lips if a woman failed to turn her face in time. “After one of those hugs, we’d joke to each other, ‘Boxers or briefs?’” said one former Pixar employee. At a recording session, she described an encounter that led her to feel strange around her boss. “He leaned into my monitor and whispered into my ear, ‘You look so beautiful, that light in your eyes,’” the former Pixar employee said. “It was the way a lover would talk to you. I remember him touching my back or leg or knee and just feeling . . . ugh. And then we talked about the work.”
Source: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/20 ... llegations
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Re: Lasseter Sexually Assaulted Women

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Oy, vey. I didn't imagine him to be this bad. :o His poor wife :(

Friends of friends who work at Disneyland are posting on social media how Lasseter treats the cast members like garbage.
unprincess wrote:well no wonder they cancelled Gigantic! a giant young female figure lording over a tiny helpless man? Nope, cant have that now can we! :P
My wild guess is that Lasseter harassed Meg or Dorothy and Nathan wasn't going to have none of it.

And update on how sexist and (maybe) racist Lasseter is:
[Update 6 p.m.: Rashida Jones and Will McCormack have issued a statement to the New York Times clarifying that they “did not leave Pixar due to unwanted advances. That is untrue. We parted ways because of creative, and more importantly, philosophical differences.” The duo then go on to allege that Pixar is a culture where women and people of color do not have an equal creative voice,” pointing to the studio’s director demographics. Meanwhile, Vanity Fair reports that according to one current Pixar employee, “rumors have circulated within the studio over Inside Out and Up director Pete Docter taking the helm.” Our earlier story is below.
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Re: Lasseter Sexually Assaulted Women

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Very sad news for me. I would've never imagined this. I feel really disappointed right now. I actually admired John Lasseter. He's the director of one of my favorite films (Toy Story), has produced a lot of other great Pixar movies, and with a few exceptions, I was also happy with the job he was doing at Disney Animation. In recent years though, there were some things that made me doubt he was actually a good person, like his practice of firing directors from their own projects or the wage-fixing scandal, of course. Though I haven't followed the news on the latter much, and I don't know if it was finally demonstrated they did that or not. In this case, anyway, it's clear that the allegations are true, otherwise he wouldn't be taking that leave of absence, as rodrigo_ca pointed out. And if he's indeed guilty, I think he shouldn't return to his position. As I said, it has been a bit of a shock for me, but I'm glad these things are coming out in Hollywood, because that kind of behaviour is completely unacceptable.
Last edited by D82 on Wed Nov 22, 2017 7:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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