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Lawsuit claims Disney facilitated Harvey Weinstein’s behavior, heiress says abuse ‘wasn’t even a secret’

August 13, 2022 | | Print Article

Heiress Abigail Disney claims everyone knew about the abuse disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein heaped upon women, but no one had the “moral clarity” to stop him

“It was an open secret,” the outspoken great-niece of Walt Disney told Rolling Stone. “I mean, it wasn’t even a secret. Everyone knew what Harvey was about, and that was just fine as long as everybody saw it as, ‘well, this is just how business is done.’ Nobody had the moral clarity to step up and say, ‘well, not here. we don’t do it that way here.'”

Her comments were published Wednesday as part of an article detailing a lawsuit against Weinstein and The Walt Disney Company filed on behalf of Kaja Sokola, a Polish model who claims Weinstein assaulted her in 2002 when she was just 16 and newly arrived in Manhattan. If the claims are true, at 16, Sokola would represent Weinstein’s youngest victim.

The lawsuit alleges that, as the former owner of Weinstein’s Miramax production company, Disney helped facilitate Weinstein’s predatory behavior.

Sokola’s case is pending in New York’s Supreme Court, so it is unknown if Disney will be held responsible for the Hollywood producer’s abhorrent conduct, but if Abigail Disney is to be believed, the company that has nearly crippled itself with wokeness in recent months faces some serious ethical questions.

“Ms. Disney’s comment raises important questions,” famed attorney Gloria Allred, who represented some of Weinstein’s victims, told the Daily Mail. “What did Disney know, and when did they know it? Did they receive reports of sexual misconduct?”

“If so, what action if any did they take?” she asked. “Did they do any investigation? If so, what did it reveal? If they failed to investigate, why did they make that decision?”

“If it was business as usual to protect Harvey Weinstein rather than protecting those who may have been victims the Disney company should admit it,” Allred stated. “Victims deserve the truth and a full accounting by Disney.”

According to Sokola’s attorney, Douglas Wigdor, Abigail Disney deserves praise for speaking out.

“We are confident that Disney and others will be held accountable for enabling Harvey Weinstein to engage in predatory behavior and the harm done to Ms. Sokola,” he said. “Ms. Disney should be applauded for her honesty and candor.”

Nonetheless, the Walt Disney Company, the lawsuit contends, is guilty of “gross neglect.”

“Numerous employees and executives of Miramax and Disney were aware of Harvey Weinstein’s pattern of misconduct, but the companies that employed him utterly failed to supervise him, and they continued to empower him with their prestige and resources and allowed him to find more victims, including Kaja Sokola,” the lawsuit reads. “Were it not for the gross neglect of these individuals and companies and their failure to exercise reasonable care, Sokola would have been spared from Harvey Weinstein’s predatory conduct.”

So far, the Disney company, which has been actively supporting every woke cause and policy on the social spectrum lately, has not commented on the allegations.

Melissa Fine
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