John Ridley, Disney and ABC Are Being Hit With a Discrimination Lawsuit

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney, ABC and John Ridley are being hit with a lawsuit filed on Wednesday over allegations that Asta Jonasson was underpaid and discriminated against because she’s an Asian American woman.

What’s Happening:

Asta Jonasson filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, stating that she was underpaid because she is an Asian American woman.
She stated in the lawsuit that there was discrimination against her by director John Ridley, which included an overall deal with Disney through ABC Studios.
She states that she was fired after a complaint about unequal pay based on her race and gender.
In the complaint, it was stated that “the announcement included that Ridley would expand his company, including hiring a dedicated development executive, i.e., the role Jonasson was already performing with the title of Director of Development.”
According to the lawsuit, “the job was offered to a white male who did not take the position.”
Jonasson stated, “She continued to oversee duties belonging to that role without proper compensation.”
According to the complaint, Ridley allegedly dismissed Jonasson’s concerns about being discriminated against after she told him that she was not given the same opportunities that he had given men.
She included examples such as hiring a male assistant as a co-producer on American Crime, although Jonasson had been working on producing duties in the earlier season.
In 2020, Jonasson said that Apple TV+ had concerns that Ridley was only hiring white males as department heads in the production of Five Days at Memorial. In response to that, Ridley said, “They have me,’ i.e., a black male in a prominent position.”
Jonasson was then fired in 2022 after a white woman was hired as a creative executive.
The complaint states, “After over a decade of being taken advantage of by men in positions of power in Hollywood and the major media organizations that enable and protect them, Jonasson now seeks to stand up for herself and countless others in Hollywood who, without bargaining power and in the face of systemic discrimination, are taken advantage of and left working long hours for low wages and little to no credit."

Laughing Place recommends MouseFanTravel.com for all your Disney travel planning

Fill out the form below for a free,
no obligation quote from MouseFanTravel.com