Credit: Inside the MagicThe Walt Disney Company has quickly become embroiled in a string of lawsuits and controversies over the last several months. As Walt Disney World faced an onslaught of targeted laws and upheavals, thanks to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Disney CEO Bob Iger quickly turned into enemy number one among Disney fans.
DeSantis enacted a series of bills in an effort to hurt Florida’s biggest theme park after former CEO Bob Chapek denounced DeSantis’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill last year. Since then, the Florida governor has passed bills targeting trans and LGBTQ+ residents of the state, as well as immigrant residents, a move which has severely hurt the state’s overall tourism industry. He took it a step further by dismantling the Reedy Creek Improvement District and the park’s privately-owned status, ensuring he had some semblance of control on the park.
In retaliation, Disney sued the Florida governor, claiming he violated the company’s First Amendment right, a legal battle that’s still ongoing. Meanwhile, Iger has announced his leadership of The Walt Disney Company for another three years as he faces backlash about harsh comments made about the Hollywood strikes and the shocking removal of content from Disney+.
Now, it seems as though the company is facing yet another controversy as one of the workers from the live-action Little Mermaid (2023) has filed a lawsuit against Disney. According to Variety, special effects artist Christine Overs is suing the studio for $190,000. She alleges that while working on a beach scene on the set of The Little Mermaid, she fell off a step and onto a concrete floor, breaking her wrist.
The 74-year-old artist claims that the injury has required surgery and steel pins to correct and has caused a significant disability in the use of her hand, negatively affecting the final years of her career. Overs has previously worked on projects like Dune (1984), Alien (1986), and Superman IV (1987) and had also worked for Jim Henson’s creature workshop.
Reportedly, Sandcastle Pictures, the Disney-owned production company that was responsible for the shoot, has admitted liability for the injury, but is disputing the amount Overs is asking for. As a result, the lawsuit is set to go to trial at a later date. The situation just further adds to the controversies that surrounded the live-action remake of the film, as well as Disney’s ongoing troubles.
Stay tuned for further developments on this story!