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Credit: Inside The MagicJust days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and offices from the federal government, many companies followed suit. Google, Target, Amazon, McDonald’s, and dozens more quickly removed any reference to DEI from their training guides and hiring procedures.
Just days after Disney executives held their quarterly meeting with investors, the company released its quarterly report, which followed Trump’s lead and removed any reference to its DEI hiring practices and initiatives. Disney also removed racial trigger warnings from some of its films on Disney+ and erased its “Reimagine Tomorrow” initiative, whose main goal was to “amplify all voices” and showcase Disney’s “commitment to diversity.”
Now, just days after Disney removed its diversity and equity programs, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, the Board appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to oversee the Walt Disney World Resort, is being sued by an employee alleging sexual and racial discrimination.
In a new federal lawsuit, Thinh Rappa, an Asian-American woman born in Vietnam, is accusing the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District of creating a workplace that’s “intimidating, hostile, and offensive.”
Rappa’s lawsuit alleges that a male co-worker told her:
Maybe you should speak English, Thinh. He then slammed a ladle on the countertop and blurted out mockingly, ‘Ying, yang, yong, ping, pang, pong.’
In a separate incident, Rappa alleges that she and another co-worker were responding to a call at an unnamed Disney hotel. A child was having trouble breathing, but her co-worker insisted that the child was fine, and they left the scene. Afterward, her co-worker told her that he was able to get them to “go home early.”
Rappa alleges that she told her co-worker he was acting “unprofessionally,” and then he:
Acted extremely defensively and shoved an ambulatory stretcher into Ms. Rappa so as to pin her between the stretcher and the wall, and yelled, ‘I am the medic here not you!’ Ms. Rappa was frightened for her life and attempted to deescalate the situation, responding, ‘I’m so sorry and you’re right. You do what you need to do.’
Rappa said she reported both incidents to the District’s human resources. However, instead of addressing the problems, she alleges that she was transferred to another fire station.
She alleges that she went on leave in May 2022 because she was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from working in the District. She returned to work in January 2023 and still works for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
Shortly after the new DeSantis-appointed Board took over the former Reedy Creek Improvement District and appointed Glen Gilzean as the district administrator, he removed all DEI programs and race-based hiring and worker initiatives from the District.
Florida Politics reached out to the District for comment but did not receive a response.