Former Disney child actress Raquel Lee is accusing the entertainment giant of ignoring the sexual abuse she suffered years ago on-set, early in her acting career.
Lee. who was also a cast member of Nickelodeon’s The Amanda Show in 14 episodes between 1999 and the year 2000, now says in a lawsuit that she was repeatedly raped and abused by a Disney worker during production of the 2001 Disney Channel film The Poof Point.
The actress, who was a 14-year-old in 2001, claims that a “middle-aged” man abused her during the production and that he first “groomed” her before sexually assaulting her and she accuses Disney of negligence, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The lawsuit alleges that the man sexually assaulted Lee in his hotel room in Salt Lake City, where the movie was filmed. She also said he abused her during a flight to Los Angeles. She alleges that the perpetrator “regularly whispered sexually explicit and harassing comments” into her ear while on set and “used hugs to get close to her.”
Lee’s filing says the abuse was “in plain view of the cast and crew and could be heard by the sound technicians managing the cast’s microphones,” and that the particular employee constantly made sexually explicit jokes around the underaged talent on-set. She also says that no one at Disney moved to stop it.
The actress goes on to accuse Disney of harming her career in retaliation against her and that she was accused of being “out of control.” She added that her role in a later production was cancelled and she lost the acting job after she complained about her abuse.
“Over the last decade, countless child actors have come forward to bravely share their experiences of abuse by adults in entertainment,” said Lee’s attorney Doug Wigdor. “As former government prosecutors, our message to the entertainment industry is simple: This conduct is inexcusable, and those involved — directly or indirectly — must be held accountable.”
Wigdor also represented Cassie Ventura against Sean “Diddy” Combs, has represented several women who accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual abuse, and also worked with Nafissatou Diallo, the hotel housekeeper who accused then-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault.
The filing notes that Disney has had numerous charges against it and added that “This is not the first time that Disney has enabled a sexual predator to target and abuse vulnerable victims.”
Lee began acting in 1998 when she was 12 years old. She has appeared several sitcoms, including The Hughleys and The Bernie Mac Show, and has provided voice work for the cartoon series, The Proud Family and its recent re-boot, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.
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