Lasseter may return to Disney

[skier_pete]

Sad thing is I am seeing some comments like “well, Disney just put a woman there to make the PC Police happy” ... not, you know, that she deserved it

Is this not surprising? She could have directed 12 movies and there would be people saying this. I will admit that her resume isn't huge, but I don't think that Disney is putting someone in this position merely because she's a woman, there's simply too much money on the line to do this.

 

[Planogirl]

Is this not surprising? She could have directed 12 movies and there would be people saying this. I will admit that her resume isn't huge, but I don't think that Disney is putting someone in this position merely because she's a woman, there's simply too much money on the line to do this.

It's the current environment unfortunately. There always seems to be a pushback when movements come about. If she does a good job that will be forgotten.

 

[PaulaSB12]

Hang on these are anonymous accusations nothing proved yet. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Especially for hugging. The metoo movement is being used to destroy careers with no real proof of wrong doing.

 

[jknezek]

Hang on these are anonymous accusations nothing proved yet. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Especially for hugging. The metoo movement is being used to destroy careers with no real proof of wrong doing.

Innocent until proven guilty is a legal standard for criminal cases. It has nothing to do with corporate policy. You can be fired for many, many things that you cannot be prosecuted for. Do not confuse your rights with respect to our legal system with your ability to work for a company. They have never been the same thing.

 

[skier_pete]

Hang on these are anonymous accusations nothing proved yet. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Especially for hugging. The metoo movement is being used to destroy careers with no real proof of wrong doing.

While I agree this is something to be cautious about, and there's no public lawsuits, if you read the articles it seems like it's been a growing problem for a while within the company, and with it going public Disney needed to respond. They certainly did there own internal investigation, and if there was nothing to it, they also likely would have backed Lasseter. Remember, harassment isn't always about having sex, and no one is accusing him of that.

 

[mom2rtk]

Hang on these are anonymous accusations nothing proved yet. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Especially for hugging. The metoo movement is being used to destroy careers with no real proof of wrong doing.

Do you believe Disney dismissed one of their leading creative executives over hugging?

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Hang on these are anonymous accusations nothing proved yet. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Especially for hugging. The metoo movement is being used to destroy careers with no real proof of wrong doing.

Just because Disney didn't publicize the results of their internal investigation doesn't mean they didn't find anything. We heard the reports of what people were willing to say out loud in public. We don't know that there wasn't worse going on that we don't know about. I'm sure Disney would like anything worse to stay as quiet as possible.

 

[Mattimation]

Just because Disney didn't publicize the results of their internal investigation doesn't mean they didn't find anything. We heard the reports of what people were willing to say out loud in public. We don't know that there wasn't worse going on that we don't know about. I'm sure Disney would like anything worse to stay as quiet as possible.

It's also fully possible they started an investigation because of the harassment allegations, and found a lot more that constituted his dismissal. A big part of this story is the writing team of Toy Story 4 leaving because of how discriminatory they found Pixar to be against women and people of color - if Disney found evidence that supported these claims, that itself is grounds for a lawsuit and runs completely counter to the Disney image, and I'd think plenty reason to fire Lasseter. And those are just the claims that made their way out to the public, as well as claims that he pushed any 2D artists out of the company regardless of tenure - if those are true, who knows what else this guy was doing that still hasn't made it out yet.

 

[lexib]

This is all pretty sad that everyone judges and finds John Lassester guilty when there has been no charges or allegations against him filed in a court. Wake up people !

 

[jknezek]

This is all pretty sad that everyone judges and finds John Lassester guilty when there has been no charges or allegations against him filed in a court. Wake up people !

Being guilty of something in court has nothing to do with the ability or privilege to work at a company. Disney has decided, or possibly John decided, they no longer want or can work together. That is the end of the story. It happens every day for a myriad of reasons. Some legit, some personal, some less than legit. Only Disney, some Pixar employees, and presumably John Lasseter will ever know the true reasons.

He's gone at the end of the year, after taking a sabbatical and he's not particularly welcome back at the studios before he leaves. These are the facts.

 

[mom2rtk]

This is all pretty sad that everyone judges and finds John Lassester guilty when there has been no charges or allegations against him filed in a court. Wake up people !

Nobody asked us. Our opinions matter not. All we CAN do is speculate. But apparently there's was enough there to get Disney to want to end the relationship. We will likely never know the specifics.

If there's nothing there, and if he still wants to work at Disney, don't you suppose he'd find a really good lawyer and do something about it?

 

[Dutch Inn '76]

Is this not surprising? She could have directed 12 movies and there would be people saying this. I will admit that her resume isn't huge, but I don't think that Disney is putting someone in this position merely because she's a woman, there's simply too much money on the line to do this.

100% disagree on that one. Disney's virtue signaling is leading the pack these days - except for maybe Starbucks. I am absolutely certain that 'affirmative action' helped this hire.

 

[Ariel484]

Just because Disney didn't publicize the results of their internal investigation doesn't mean they didn't find anything. We heard the reports of what people were willing to say out loud in public. We don't know that there wasn't worse going on that we don't know about. I'm sure Disney would like anything worse to stay as quiet as possible.

I would have been shocked if they HAD publicized anything. It's totally not their MO.

It's also fully possible they started an investigation because of the harassment allegations, and found a lot more that constituted his dismissal. A big part of this story is the writing team of Toy Story 4 leaving because of how discriminatory they found Pixar to be against women and people of color - if Disney found evidence that supported these claims, that itself is grounds for a lawsuit and runs completely counter to the Disney image, and I'd think plenty reason to fire Lasseter. And those are just the claims that made their way out to the public, as well as claims that he pushed any 2D artists out of the company regardless of tenure - if those are true, who knows what else this guy was doing that still hasn't made it out yet.

Exactly. It sounded like a toxic work environment for anyone who wasn't a white male...how can anyone but the leadership be blamed for that?

This is all pretty sad that everyone judges and finds John Lassester guilty when there has been no charges or allegations against him filed in a court. Wake up people !

I'm more sad for the women he allegedly harassed myself.

 

[skier_pete]

This is all pretty sad that everyone judges and finds John Lassester guilty when there has been no charges or allegations against him filed in a court. Wake up people !

It's true that this is a tricky situation for us to speculate about, as WE (these people sitting here on the DIS) can only judge by what is being written in articles.

However, what you are saying here is sort of irrelevant. Internally, Disney knows what the allegations are, they know what he's been accused of, and they probably have pretty strong evidence one way or another. All we have here are the facts:

Fact 1: There are claims by numerous Pixar employees (and non-Pixar employees) that he was doing inappropriate things and more to the point was discriminating against women. (Lasseter even essentially fessed up to these in his mea culpa letter.)
Fact 2: Disney convinced him to leave due to these allegations.

I've said it before, if all he was doing was being extra huggy with female employees and made a few comments about their looks - Disney wouldn't have let him go. He's not some schmo middle manager - he's the creative brain behind the Pixar animation behemoth as well as the more recent Disney Animation successes. Bottom dollar only they would NOT let him go if there was no evidence.

So say that we can only judge him guilty if he's convicted it court is really disingenuous. This is never, ever going to court - so that means he's not guilty?

 

[Helvetica]

100% disagree on that one. Disney's virtue signaling is leading the pack these days - except for maybe Starbucks. I am absolutely certain that 'affirmative action' helped this hire.

Or they just picked the person at Disney Animation Studios who has made them the most money in the past 5 years and who they think will make them the most money in the near future.

I don't really see how Jennifer Lee could be considered an affirmative action pick. If the goal is to make money, then the young writer/director with the top grossing animated film of all time is the obvious choice.

 

[BrianL]

Jennifer Lee is a perfectly credible choice for the role. Who else would it have been really? She's been pretty heavily involved in most of their recent films, which have all been huge hits. I mean, maybe there were others who would have been good too, but I can't see how she's a bad pick or was picked only because of her gender.

 

[Dutch Inn '76]

Or they just picked the person at Disney Animation Studios who has made them the most money in the past 5 years and who they think will make them the most money in the near future.

I don't really see how Jennifer Lee could be considered an affirmative action pick. If the goal is to make money, then the young writer/director with the top grossing animated film of all time is the obvious choice.

TLJ was far too important of a moneymaker/film to go PC with - but they did it anyway, and paid for it with Solo (IMO). Please understand, I don't know anything about Ms Lee; perhaps she was the best candidate? I don't know. I do know that Disney is being sure to virtue signal at every turn these days: lots of PC programming, checking off all of the SJW subjects in their films, etc. Their actions, and the politically-laden recent films like Zootopia and Last Jedi make me suspect their intentions at every turn. They brought this suspicion on themselves. This is exactly why affirmative action is such a scourge on our society today.

As an aside: You imply that she directed Frozen? I honestly don't know, but if they really wanted the person who made that film a mega-hit they would have hired the couple that wrote "Let It Go." That movie's success mostly starts and ends there.

 

[MissGina5]

TLJ was far too important of a moneymaker/film to go PC with - but they did it anyway, and paid for it with Solo (IMO). Please understand, I don't know anything about Ms Lee; perhaps she was the best candidate? I don't know. I do know that Disney is being sure to virtue signal at every turn these days: lots of PC programming, checking off all of the SJW subjects in their films, etc. Their actions, and the politically-laden recent films like Zootopia and Last Jedi make me suspect their intentions at every turn. They brought this suspicion on themselves. This is exactly why affirmative action is such a scourge on our society today.

As an aside: You imply that she directed Frozen? I honestly don't know, but if they really wanted the person who made that film a mega-hit they would have hired the couple that wrote "Let It Go." That movie's success mostly starts and ends there.

Yeah I hate when my kids' movies come with virtues.

 

[BrianL]

Yeah I hate when my kids' movies come with virtues.

This is truth. Pretty much every Disney animated movie since forever has basically been a morallity play. It's their nature.

 

[MissGina5]

This is truth. Pretty much every Disney animated movie since forever has basically been a morallity play. It's their nature.

and the differences is they arent just doing fairytales anymore, and when they do they expand beyond the original work, which has been an improvement.